Thunder To My Lightning
by SwiftDragonfly
Summary: A mysterious woman joins Fairy Tail. Her magic is incredible if you get the chance to see it- or more accurately, hear it. Laxus tries to join the dating world with a new outlook on life. A cute love story. Laxusxoc.
1. Chapter 1

**Laxus One Shot**

 _Thunder to my Lightning_

Seeing his Fairy Tail comrades was strange for Laxus.

Even after what he did, they were smiling and laughing with him, as if nothing had happened. The Thunder Legion was excited at his appearance, which wasn't surprising, but he would have thought that the others would be upset by his arrival. Some glares at the very least.

But no- the only person that seemed mildly annoyed by his presence was his grandfather.

There were even some new faces in the group that he both recognized and didn't. He had to do a double take when he saw Lisanna, since last he had checked, she was dead. Wendy had joined after he left the guild, but he'd known about her by socializing with the Thunder Legion once or twice.

And then there was the new girl approaching him, looking to be about his age with an odd air of familiarity to her. He couldn't place who she was, but he knew he'd seen her somewhere before. Maybe she was a new member when he'd left?

"Your name is Laxus, right?" She asked as she approached him, interrupting the one-sided conversation he'd had with Bickslow. The seith mage turned up and looked at her in surprise, silent for the first time since the blonde had sat down.

"Yeah." He replied, his cold blue eyes meeting her warm brown ones. A grin tugged at her small pink lips, further annoying Laxus, since he couldn't place how he knew her. She wore a tribal looking outfit, with a modern design that complimented her figure; her well toned abdomen was visible and loose harem pants tied off just below her knees.

"It's been a long time." She spoke, and his brows knitted together, still trying to remember how he knew her.

"I'm sorry, how do I know you?"

"I don't blame you for not remembering. My dad implanted the dragonslayer lacrima in you." She said, and finally able to place her in his memory, an uncharacteristic smile tugged at his own lips.

"Eeeeh? Seriously?" Bickslow asked, his babies echoing his surprise.

"Now I remember. You were the girl running around in mud." He said, and she giggled cutely. "Nari, right? How's your dad doing?"

"He died shortly after that."

"I'm sorry to hear. He was a good man."

"Thanks. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I'm going to be helping Wendy heal everyone." She said awkwardly with a small wave, taking a step back.

"It was nice seeing you again." Laxus said, still smiling at the memory of them as kids. As she walked away, he caught himself staring, and then turned and realized that Bickslow was grinning at him. "What are you smiling at?"

"You liiiiike her." Bickslow teased, his babies joining in the fun. "Like her, like her!"

"Laxus, Elfman did mean things to me while you were gone, are you going to punish him for me?" Evergreen interrupted before he could deny the accusation.

1.

Being reinstated as a member of Fairy Tail was also a strange experience.

Once again, the only person that gave him any judging look was his grandfather. The others looked at him as a long term friend, and although he had missed that look greatly, couldn't help but feel guilty every time he saw it. He was responsible for a lot of pain and suffering, and being brought back to the guild felt like a cop out.

But there was one pair of eyes he didn't mind, and he hated how quickly his team caught onto it. He barely even spoke to the woman, talked about her, or even looked at her, yet his team somehow knew that he was thinking about her. It was a harmless crush, and she wasn't particularly unique compared to his previous crushes, but something about the way she looked at him caused his stomach to flutter.

All he really knew about her was that her dad was a world renowned healer, and that she only used that magic on occasion. Unlike Wendy, she rarely used her healing magic openly, and he'd overheard her telling the young dragonslayer that she couldn't teach her any of her magic. Despite both of them being skilling healing mages, neither of them were open about sharing their magic with others.

Using his reinstatement as a Fairy Tail wizard as an excuse to party, Laxus found himself in the middle of the rowdy group of wizards, mentally preparing himself for the brawl that would inevitably result. Drinks were being passed around, drinking contests were starting, and silly dancing was taking place.

The smell of alcohol stung his nostrils, along with the usual smells of his guild.

His eyes locked with the brunette in the corner of the room, who seemed to be avoiding the crowded part of the small Guild Hall. She was calmly sipping away at her drink while reading a book on the table, seeming uninterested with the party.

A fist landed on Laxus's jaw, forcing his attention away from her as his body smashed into a table. On his way down he had bumped into someone else, and in no time, the fighting had begun.

He smiled.

It had been a long time since he participated in one of his Guild's fights.

Natsu was the first person he hit, not hard enough to knock him out or anything, but enough to get the young dragonslayer 'fired up'.

2.

He stood there for a ridiculously long time, trying to decide whether to approach her or not. It was a nice sunny day, and while some of the mages owere fighting or doing chores to help clean up, most of them were lounging and enjoying the sun. Nari was no different, laying on her stomach with a book open in front of her, comfortable blanket protecting her from the grass. Her long brown hair was tied back in a messy bun, a variety of small braids and beads mixed in.

Feeling like an idiot just standing there and staring, after some three minutes, he resigned to getting a lemonade from Mira and socializing with her for a bit.

He'd never been self-conscious when it came to women, so it was a new feeling, but he was also out of practice. After the Fantasia incident he hadn't been interested in dating or socializing, spending most of his time alone in the forest or traveling. In fact he didn't realize how starved for human interaction he was until he returned, and how out of practice he was at talking to people.

In the past, he would simply walk up to a girl, give them his signature smile and cheesy pick up line. Then he'd joke about how cheesy he was being, and after a few compliments, they were putty in his hand.

But that was the old Laxus.

How did the new Laxus talk to girls?

"Have you tried talking to her?" Mira asked, and the blonde shook his head, turning his attention back to her. He must have spaced out, because he couldn't remember what he'd been talking to her about.

"Who?"

"Nari." She said with a smile, and he frowned at her.

"Am I that obvious?"

"Only to the people that know you well." She giggled, and Laxus relaxed, now taking a seat on one of the bar stools. Almost everyone was outside at the moment, so they were the only ones in the Guild Hall. As she busied herself with cleaning up, he continued talking to her. "Have you asked her out yet?"

"No."

"Why not? She's a nice girl. A bit quiet, but since you got back, so have you."

"What's she like?" He asked curiously, sipping at his glass of lemonade.

"I don't know her too well, honestly. She keeps to herself, does solo missions mostly… I know she uses healing magic, but other than that, her magic is a mystery. She did something to impress the Guild Master since she was selected for the S-Class trials." She spoke, and the blonde listened intently, hoping to find any useful piece of information.

"Her dad was the one that implanted lacrima in me." He said, and her eyebrows raised, surprised at the information.

"So you two are childhood friends?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"Not really. I only met her briefly a couple of times. She grew up in a small village to the north, and her mom was a native. Apparently her dad died a few years ago." He said, relaying pretty much everything he knew about her.

"Sounds like you know more about her than anyone in the guild." Mira commented with a smile, and he grunted, annoyed that she didn't have more information on her. "She seems to like reading. Maybe you can ask her about books?"

He pondered the idea for a second, suddenly glad that he had talked to her about his problem. "That's a good idea. Thanks Mira."

After she nodded and wished him luck, he stood from his chair, drink still in his hand. To his disappointment, as the bright rays of the sun nearly blinded him on his exit from the Guild Hall, he found the brunette and her blanket missing.

His blue eyes searched the field for her, but she was nowhere in sight.

3.

"Have you asked her out yet?" The old man asked casually, causing the blond to shoot him a glare.

"I'm working on it." He replied, and went back to looking at the tribal woman across the room, who remained oblivious to his stares.

"Better work fast. I heard that you have some competition."

"Who?" He asked too quickly, causing the old man to chuckle.

"I overheard that Nab was planning to ask her out."

" _Nab_? Tch." He dismissed, not needing to look at the overweight man to know that he was no competition. Maybe 7 years ago when he was fit and moderately attractive, but the man had let himself go over the years, and to Laxus's knowledge had no redeeming qualities.

"It's funny that out of all the women, you're interested in her."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked heatedly, a stray line of electricity dancing along his exposed arm.

"She uses thunder magic." Makarov said before taking a sip of his drink, watching his grandson's expression change from angry, to confused, and then amused.

"No shit, seriously?"

"I've only seen her use her magic once, but it was impressive."

"Impressive enough to select her for the S-Class trials." Laxus surmised, and the old man nodded. "Only seeing her magic once convinced you?"

"Well, she's also had an excellent track record, and her father was a good friend of mine. Do you remember him?"

"Yeah, he was a good man." He commented, just before a firey Natsu slammed into him and knocked him out of his seat.

4.

"Hey Nari." Laxus greeted casually, walking up to her. She was currently laying on her blanket and basking in the sun, much like the other day when he first tried to approach her. Her head tilted to peer up at him, squinting against the bright sun.

"Hey Laxus. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. How are you?"

"Pretty good." She replied, waiting for him to continue talking.

"You want to get coffee sometime?" He asked quickly, feeling a wash of relief at finally getting the question out there.

A soft hum vibrated from her, and the sound was so odd that it actually caught him off guard. "Sure, why not?" She said with a smile, and it took him a second to realize that she'd accepted. After blinking at her for a moment, she giggled. "When and where?"

"Uh, tomorrow at noon, The Sunflower Café a few blocks from here?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Sounds good. I'll see you then?"

"Yeah. See you then." He said with a soft smile, and walked away, internally cheering. Even when someone bumped into his shoulder, he wasn't the slightest upset by it. The other person was, though.

"Oi, watch where you're going, prick." The shorter man stated, turning and grabbing his arm. Laxus looked down at him, like his was an annoying bug, and didn't recognize the older man. He looked to be in his late thirties, black hair slicked back and blue tailored suit. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, and smelled as if he'd bathed in cologne and cigarettes.

The blond raised an eyebrow at him, looking down at the hand just above his elbow.

"Apologize." He stated, and nodded his head towards his men, who were now circling them. They were also in tailored suits and sunglasses, but had military cut hair. There were 10 in total, not including the man on his arm.

"I suggest that you let go of my arm." Laxus spoke, giving him his best threatening look he could muster.

"Uncle Fester, let go of his arm." A female voice spoke behind Laxus, and he internally cringed, recognizing it. Not two minutes after landing a date and he's already made a bad impression on her family.

"Oh, Kaminari, it's so nice to see you!" The suited man said sweetly, immediately releasing the blonde's arm. Laxus turned so that he could face the woman, surprised at the hostile expression she was hosting to the older man that tried to hug her.

"What the hell do you want?" She asked him, freezing the man in his tracks. He immediately put his arms down as if deflated, acting disappointed at not getting to hug her.

"Can't an old man visit his niece? Does there have to be a reason?"

"Yes." She replied coldly, her eyes briefly landing on the men that were now spreading out in their area, obviously ready to attack. Laxus stayed put, also eyeing the men and ready to intervene if necessary.

"Look, I have a friend, and his son is ill. None of the doctors can do anything for him, so I was hoping-"

"If your friend wants to request me for a job, he'll have to go through my guild and request one."

"The boy is on borrowed time, and-"

"Then he better hurry." She told him, and a nervous high-pitched chuckle escaped the man's lips as he loosened his tie. "If he gets passed our background check and my Guild Master thinks it's worth my time to heal your 'friend's' kid, then I'll be happy to take a look at him."

"You see, I don't have that kind of time." He said, glancing at his men. "Are you really willing to let this kid, this 6 year old little boy, die because of protocol? Because you have trust issues with me?"

"I'm not my parents; I'm not going to let your little sob story get me killed. Either make an official request or leave."

"We're not leaving here empty handed." One of the men spoke, stepping forward and easily standing 2 feet taller than her.

"Is that so?" She asked, but as she spoke, all of the men crumbled to their knees holding their ears in pain. "Because I think you are." As she spoke again, they all cringed and yelled out in pain, falling sideways on the grass in fetal position.

Laxus watched them fall curiously, having heard a strange distortion coming from the young woman as she spoke. Since gramps had mentioned that she used thunder magic, he guessed that she controlled sound waves, which was why she sounded so strange.

"Are you going to leave, or do I have to make you leave, uncle?" She asked the man, who was the only suited one to be standing. He was visibly shaking and sweating.

"W-w-we'll m-make an o-o-official r-req-quest." He said, turning to leave. The wounded suits picked themselves up and left as well, cursing all the while and helping guide each other walk.

"Sorry about that." Nari said, redirecting her attention back to Laxus. "My uncle is a jerk."

"We've all got family like that." He said with a shrug, his chest fluttering at the sound of her giggle again. "That was pretty impressive magic you used. I see why gramps chose you for the S-Class trials."

"Thanks." She replied, and after a moment of silence, Laxus started to turn to leave again.

"See you tomorrow." He repeated, and she said the same, walking back to her previous spot. As the blonde made his way back to his team, who had been waiting anxiously the entire time, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"That looked intense." Fried commented, appearing much more awkward than usual.

"More importantly, what'd she say, man?" Bickslow asked, his babies repeating his question fervently while dancing around him. Evergreen was also looking eager to hear his answer, smiling giddily at the lightning man.

"We're having coffee tomorrow." He said with a shrug, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. To his embarrassment, the group staring hollering and cheering in excitement, jumping on him and congratulating him enthusiastically.

His blue eyes briefly glanced back at the girl reading her book, catching her looking at him and watched as she went back to reading, smiling to herself. A subtle blush spread across his cheeks.

5.

After ordering their coffee, Laxus and Nari found themselves sitting comfortably outside at a small table. It was a sunny day and the street was buzzing with life as shoppers entered and exited the various shops.

"You look nice." She complimented. The blond was wearing a shirt that Evergreen had insisted he wear, which was a white button down shirt with a Celtic styled sunflower covering part of his chest and shoulder.

"Thanks. So do you… I like how you did your hair." He complimented, referring to the curls in her hair. Most of her hair was pulled back in a loose braid, but there were a few pieces left framing her face, curling into spirals.

"Thanks."

"So… how's your mom doing?"

"She died a couple years ago."

"I'm sorry, that must be tough."

"It was. How's your dad?" She said, effectively returning the conversation back to him.

"He's off somewhere plotting against my grandfather. I haven't seen him in years."

"What about your mom?"

"She bailed when I was little." He said, and looked up as the waitress brought them their coffee, thanking her before returning his attention to the woman across from him. "I guess neither of us have happy families."

"I guess not."

They both chuckled awkwardly, adding their sugar and cream to their drinks, and then sipping at the warm liquid. "Seen any good movies lately?"

Their conversation continued in that polite fashion, both of them trying to stay clear of talking about family again. By the end they managed to find some common ground in movies and books, and Laxus had managed to set a second date.

However, the announcement awaiting them at the Guild Hall would have to put it on hold.

"'Grand Magic Games'?" He repeated, and his team nodded.

"It's 3 months away, and everyone is making plans for their training. Where do you think we should go?" Bickslow asked, watching his leader's shoulder's slump. "Unless someone wants to stay behind to make out with a certain someone?" He asked with a grin and tongue hanging out.

"Our usual place should work for training." He said, narrowing his eyes at the blue-haired man.

1.

Three months later when he arrived at his team's room, he was surprised at a couple of the people chosen. Namely the thunder magic user that sat on one of the beds, casually reading her book while the others chatted away on the balcony. He was also surprised that Juvia was there, since she had failed the first round of the s-ranked trials.

The Thunder Legion had gone their separate ways on the street, and he suspected that their hotel was nearby.

"Hey Nari, how have you been?" He asked, causing her to look up from her book. She bookmarked the page without looking at it, smiling at his presence.

"I've been good. How'd your training go?"

"It was alright. Not very exciting." He said with a shrug, and noticing that the only bed left was next to her, set his duffel bag on it. "Sorry our date got canceled for it."

"Don't worry about it. We've got another 5 hours until the midnight deadline, if you want to go somewhere?" She asked, a mischievous smirk dancing along her lips. Laxus couldn't help but smile, happy to see her again.

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"How about we walk around and see what's interesting?" She suggested, already jumping off of her small bed and linking arms with the taller man. He blushed at the contact and looked away, mumbling a 'sure' under his breath.

2.

The preliminary round had only just started, and Juvia and Gajeel wouldn't shut up. The blue haired woman continued searching for her love interest, babbling about him constantly, while the iron dragonslayer would scold her whenever she almost fell over the edge of the platform they were running on. They bickered like siblings, and the blond man was close to just knocking them out and carrying them the rest of the way.

After an unsuccessful first ten minutes of exploring the large and odd maze, the group stopped to plan their strategy. The place was so large that they hadn't run into anyone else yet, but the group had already decided to take them out if they did. It was a competition, after all.

"If you guys are willing to stay quiet for a few minutes, I can use my thunder magic to locate it." Nari stated, but everyone froze, feeling the ground beneath them starting to move.

"Everyone get to an edge!" Laxus ordered, and while Gajeel and Juvia managed to make it to a side, Mirajane was unlucky to stumble off the side first.

The lightning dragonslayer used his teleportation magic to grab her, reappearing on another surface that was now flat as the entire maze turned on its side. The cries of unlucky wizards rang out, and they saw bodies falling from the giant maze fall one after another.

That included Nari.

"Shit!" Gajeel cursed as he tried to grab the brunette before she fell, but it was too late- she was already falling off of the edge and headed towards the ground.

The sound of thunder bellowed out, causing those with sensitive hearing to cringe, and the blur of his teammate flying through the air caused him to blink in surprise.

Laxus watched in awe as the woman was sent flying into the air, in fact well above the maze itself and almost into the clouds. He heard her curse as she started to fall, seeming to move in the air in sync with the echo of her thunder, and her eyes were on the platform he was on, appearing to be trying to aim for it. Her face looked panicked as she fell, her cheeks flushed and clothing flapping against the wind.

When she landed on his platform, he held his ears in pain, since her landing was so loud and only a few feet from him.

"Is everyone alright?" She asked, looking around at her teammates. Juvia and Gajeel hopped over to their platform, nodding.

"Did you have to be so loud?" The iron dragonslayer asked, frowning as he picked at his ear. Laxus tried to pretend that it hadn't bothered him in the slightest, but his ears were still ringing, and he couldn't help but mentally curse at the woman.

"Sorry. On the plus side, I found a route to the middle of the maze, and I'm betting that that's where the finish line is." She said with an apologetic grin, and at this news, everyone smiled with renewed determination.

"Oh hell yeah! Lead the way, thunder girl!" Gajeel cheered, already forgetting about being upset with her.

Laxus couldn't help but smirk. _She'd make a good addition to the Thunder Legion._

The rest of the preliminary round was a piece of cake. Once they'd made it to the center of the maze, it was easy enough to locate the finish line. Surprisingly they weren't first, but they did land second place, which warranted a round of high fives from the members.

In order to keep the winners of the preliminary rounds secret until the official first day of the games, the teams were given new rooms that were beneath the stadium. Each of the rooms were extremely decorative and large, much nicer than the hotel room they'd been provided with.

Once entering the doorway leading from the maze to the tunnels under the coliseum, they walked down a hallway that intersected with several other corridors, each having a number over it 1-8. In the middle was a large room with several couches and furniture, along with snacks on the center table.

As they entered the purple and green room, another group came in behind them.

Raven Tail.

"The little fairies beat us here." The gothic looking man spoke, glaring at them.

Fairy Tail tensed, sensing the hostility from them, and not yet realizing they'd hurt Wendy.

One of them, completely shrouded in black and a dark cloak, seemed to sniff the air and step closer to Nari. "I didn't think I'd find you so soon." It snickered, and the brunette gave him a questioning look, not knowing who it was. The creature reached its hands to its lips, revealing a strange and unique tattoo, causing her to stiffen.

Noticing the strange exchange, Laxus stepped in front of her protectively when the cloaked man had taken another step forward, arms folded over his chest. The dragonslayer gave one of his infamous glares, freezing the creature in its tracks.

Everyone had managed to find someone to glare at, so for a few minutes, there was only hostile glares and brief insults thrown at each other.

"Each corridor has a number on it. I'm guessing that each corridor is for whatever place the team came in?" Juvia asked, breaking the awkward silence that had enveloped the room.

Laxus was content with sending death glares at the dark figure, but felt a soft hand tug at his arm. He looked down to see the Nari was trying to pull him away, and he noticed that the rest of his team was leaving.

Sending one last threatening glare at them, he scoffed, turning and following them.

"That was intense." Mira spoke after a few minutes of walking, and when they finally came to a room labeled '2nd place', they stopped and entered.

"I didn't think my dad's guild would be competing. I wonder how they managed to be considered a legal guild." Laxus commented, immediately making his way to one of the couches on the side of the room. Nari took a seat on the other side of the couch, looking distracted and lost in her own thoughts.

"I hope my beloved Gray is alright." Juvia cried as she sat on one of the beds, effectively claiming it as her own.

"Hey, apparently we can order room service. Anyone up for pizza?" The iron dragonslayer asked after picking up a piece of paper by the entrance, not feeling tired in the slightest despite the late hour. After their strange encounter with the other guild, and Juvia's worry for her 'beloved', none of them were very tired at that point.

"I'm not very hungry, but I'm not very tired, either." Mira commented as she took a seat on the empty couch across from the couple.

"I'm up for food." Laxus stated.

"Juvia?" Gajeel asked, looking over at the woman that was hugging a pillow and muttering to herself, lost in her own world. Not feeling like yelling at her to get her attention, he simply redirected his gaze to the other person that hadn't voiced their opinion. "Thunder girl?"

She didn't answer, her eyes locked on a potted plant to her left, palm holding up the side of her face and propped against the couch side.

"Nari." Laxus spoke, a bit louder, and got the woman's attention. Her brown eyes turned and locked with his blue ones, and he was surprised by the emotion swirling in them: fear. "Do you want pizza?"

"No thanks." She muttered and then returned her attention to the plant.

"You okay?" He asked, suddenly realizing that her pulse was racing. With his heightened senses he could hear her heart beating wildly, and could see small beads of sweat forming on her flushed skin.

"Yeah." She muttered, still not looking at him. Since their recent two dates, he'd hoped that they'd gotten closer, but obviously not if she was lying to him.

"Who was that guy back there?"

"I dunno." She muttered, unconvincingly.

"That entire group gave me the jeebies." Gajeel announced as he plopped down next to Mira, spreading out and getting comfortable. "Pizza will be here in a half hour."

"They were quite strange." Mira agreed, now eyeing the woman across from her like Laxus, noticing her odd behavior. "Are you sure that you're okay, Nari? You look a bit pale."

"Just tired. I used a lot of my magic during the preliminaries." She said, turning her gaze to the white-haired mage.

"Gray –samaaaaa!" Juvia randomly screamed from her bed, temporarily gaining the attention of her team, before they went back to ignoring her.

"So… anyone know any team building games?" Gajeel asked, looking around at the group.

"Games? Really?" Laxus asked, causing the younger male to glare.

"It was just an idea. We are a team after all."

"Do they have booze here?" The blonde asked, his blue eyes wandering around the extravagant room and eventually landing on a minifridge.

"Do you think that's such a good idea? The first competition is tomorrow." Mirajane asked from her seat, watching the dragonslayer get up excitedly.

"Pfft, we're not going to get wasted. And hell, we beat the first round by getting second place, we deserve to celebrate a little." He rationalized, digging through the assortment of small bottles and snacks.

3.

"Is he normally such a heavy sleeper?" Nari asked the other wizard, and Mira giggled. The two women had been trying to wake up the large male for the past 5 minutes with no avail, using a wide variety of tactics from poking him, yelling at him, and trying to pull him off of the couch.

Nothing was working.

"Let me at him." Gajeel spoke and stepped forward, readying his iron magic. The dragonslayer launched his iron fist at the sleeping man, but when his hand was only inches from his face, screamed in pain at the lightning that struck him.

One of the mage's blue eyes peaked open, wondering what set off his lightning magic. Both of his eyes widened in surprise at the twitching and unconscious male on the floor, recognizing it as his teammate.

"Morning sunshine." Mira giggled, and Laxus looked up groggily at the two women, blushing at the sight of the brunette standing there. She had bags under her eyes and wasn't looking at him, her gaze instead on the twitching male on the ground, a tired and annoyed expression on her face. "We only have a half hour until the games start."

Nari poked the dragonslayer on the ground with her foot, oblivious to the blonde man's stare.

"Did you get any sleep?" Laxus asked the woman, causing her gaze to briefly meet his.

"Everyone is ready to go except for you." She simply said, her voice rather cold and on edge.

He blinked at her, not quite understanding her cold reaction, and then looked around him at the other wizards, his brain slowly beginning to comprehend the situation.

"Laxus isn't a morning person." Mira commented.

"You didn't answer my question." The man stated, and sat up, keeping his tired eyes locked on her tired brown ones.

"No, I didn't get any sleep. Now will you please get ready?" She asked, giving him a pointed look.

A half hour later, the team found themselves in the middle of the field, smirking and standing confidently even as half the crowd 'boo'd at them. The other Fairy Tail team wasn't too happy either, freaking out and being utterly confused by the situation.

Upon seeing Raven Tail, and noticing that the cloaked figure was appearing to be facing Nari while flashing his tattoo at her, Laxus again took his protective stance in front of her, but tried to be more subtle about it this time. Their guild was now also taking credit for the injury of their younger colleague, Wendy, which pissed him off even more.

The blonde's chest tightened, and at the sight of their smug faces, he wanted nothing more than turn all of them to dust. Beneath his fur lined coat his hands balled into fists.

"Nari!" A female voice squealed, and the man turned, surprised when another woman approached Nari. She was from Mermaid Heel, a guild he had never heard of until today, and had a wide smile on her plump face.

The two women shared a hug, the shorter woman seeming to be more enthusiastic by it than the other. They both wore similar styled clothes, and Laxus quietly wondered if they were from the same village.

"Ris, I didn't expect to see you here." She said with a strained grin.

"After what happened with your mom, I thought you kicked the bucket, too! You couldn't take two seconds to write a damn letter?!" The small woman demanded, now taking a step back with her hands on her hips. "9 years!"

"Sorry." She said awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck.

"Maybe you two can catch up later, when the whole world isn't watching?" Laxus asked, interrupting them. Risley glared at the tall man, but then glanced at the stadium, and nodded. They were just announcing Sabertooth as getting first place in the preliminary round.

"We'll catch up later. You better not run off again." She said, and waved as she walked back to her guild members, who were giving her similar annoyed looks.

"Looks like you have a lot of friends here." Laxus commented, and she scoffed. He was now standing next to her, arms folded over his chest and gaze moving across the faces of their competition.

"The phrase 'facing my demons' comes to mind." She said, and as she locked eyes with the cloaked figure still facing her, she frowned. "Literally and figuratively."

"Don't let them rattle you. We're here to win." He told her, and she sighed, trying to regain her composure.

"That's the plan." She said, and chuckled as she watched the fire dragonslayer argue animatedly with his teammates.

4.

"The last match of the day is… Kamanari Hissori from Fairy Tail B, vs Risley Law from Mermaid Heel!" The announcer spoke, bringing the woman out of her dazed state.

"Risley? Seriously?" She asked, sitting up straight. "This is going to be a short match." She commented, thinking back and unable to recall any magic that the young woman used as a kid. Nari had known the woman since her birth, only a 6 year difference in age, and had grown up with her.

"You two friends or something?" Gajeel asked, watching as she stood up to leave.

"We grew up together. Until today, I hadn't seen her in a couple of years, though." She replied, exchanging a brief look with Laxus.

"Don't go easy on her." He commented, and she nodded, continuing out the door.

"Good luck!" Mira called after her.

Once on the battle field, the two women faced each other, matching determined expressions on their faces.

"When I said we should catch up, I didn't mean like this." Risley joked, standing and ready to fight. Both of the fighters were now waiting for the announcers to finish speaking so that they could begin, antsy to start the match. "Just because we grew up together, doesn't mean that I'm going to go easy on you."

"You know that you don't stand a chance, right? You've seen my true power first hand." Nari asked her, smirking when she saw the younger woman's expression falter for a second. Nari was standing calmly, relaxed with her hands in her pants pockets. Like her competitor she wore a blue top that left her abdomen exposed, and white triangles and symbols along the edges. Unlike her, she wore black harem pants that were tied just below her knees, looking simple compared to her shirt.

"I've learned a lot since we last fought. Don't underestimate me!" Risley exclaimed, now pointing at her. "I'm going to win for my guild!"

"Is that so?" Nari asked, smirking. She was using the conversation so scope out the woman's body, trying to figure out what her magic was, and had discovered early on that it had to do with gravity. As her sound waves had bounced unnoticed around her, she'd felt the distortion tugging her limbs down.

"Thunder magic didn't do your mom any good in the end, and it won't for you, either." She said, and Nari's smirk fell, not expecting such a personal insult.

"Already making dead momma jokes, huh? You must be really desperate to win." Nari commented, and watched the woman's posture shift slightly, visibly awkward from the statement.

"I didn't, I mean… can we start fighting soon?" She asked, shifting her attention back to the announcers, who were still blabbing away. The pumpkin man shook his head at her, indicating that they still had to wait.

"So how's Marla doing?" Nari asked, walking closer to the woman so that they could chat easier.

"She's good. Had her third kid this week."

"Her third? Did she get married?" Nari asked, her composure instantly cheering up at the news. Her nerves seemed to unwind as she continued talking to the woman, surprised at how nice it felt to talk to someone from her village. It had been almost two years for her since she had seen them, and for the rest of the world, 9 years.

"Yeah, she married Devin a year after you left. They had their first kid only 5 months after." She said with a grin, seeming to unwind a bit as well.

"I knew they would hook up! I can't believe I missed their wedding. Marla must have looked gorgeous." Nari gushed animatedly, and the other woman nodded in a similar fashion.

"We have pictures. Mom and I worked night and day on that wedding dress."

"You and your mom always made the most beautiful outfits. I was always so jealous."

"At the wedding reception, we kept a spot at the bridesmaids table open for you." She added, and at those words, Nari's face fell.

Of course that was when they decided to start the match, when Nari felt like an ass hole and Risley felt equally awkward for bringing it up. Since the match was about to begin they created more space between them, trying to get pumped up for the fight again.

"Sorry that this is going to hurt." Nari apologized.

"You're going to be the one in a world of pain, girl."

"Begin!" The pumpkin man spoke, and a roar of applause resounded from the crowd.

"Gravity magic!" Risley yelled, and instantly Naru felt the gravity around her pull her down. Despite the power of the spell, she remained standing, her hair flattened by the magic. She lifted her hand and snapped her fingers, causing a thunderous sound to boom through the field.

Her opponent went flying all the way across the field, her body smashing into the concrete wall and causing it to crack, and then falling to the ground unmoving. After a few seconds Nari was announced the winner, and she pumped her fist into the air victoriously before leaving the field, trying to ignore the pit in her stomach.

5.

It wasn't unusual that Nari keep to herself, especially at the bar that Fairy Tail was using as a temporary Guild Hall, but it irked Laxus that she was so quiet around him now. He'd taken pride in the fact that she had started opening up to him on their two outings, given how anti-social she was, and now for reasons she wouldn't tell him, she closed down.

He tried to reason that it was sleep deprivation that was making her irritable, but he suspected it had more to do with the Raven Tail guy. The more he thought about the symbol on his hand the more he was convinced that he'd seen it somewhere, but couldn't place it. Not to mention the Risley girl had mentioned Nari's disappearance from her village, and their interactions seemed to get mixed reactions from the brunette.

Laxus nudged her foot under the table, sitting across from her with a drink in his hand. She'd been staring sadly at her nearly full glass of beer for some time now, sighing every so often and blowing him off every time he tried to strike a conversation with her.

"What's your deal?" He finally snapped, getting her attention. Similar sad expressions had been plaguing his guild members, since they had lost so many points that day and two of their team members had been critically injured. The only excitement in the lousy bar was Natsu, who was challenging people to fist fights and pummeling them.

"Just tired. Sorry."

"Something else is bugging you." He said, and her gaze went back to her glass.

Another sigh escaped her lips.

"Am _I_ bugging you?"

"My being here is obviously upsetting you. I'm going to head back to the room and get some sleep." She said and stood up, avoiding his gaze. He wanted to walk her to the hotel, but her feet carried her so fast out of the small bar he never got the chance.

He grumbled under his breath and went back to his drink, chugging down the last of it.

His grandfather decided to join him, taking a seat on the table next to him and continuing to nurse his large beverage. Laxus waved down the waitress and asked for a refill.

"How are you holding up?" The old man asked him, and the blond scoffed.

"Fine."

"Must be hard facing against your dad's guild." He commented, and their eyes met briefly.

"It's weird, but it's nothing we can't handle. I can't believe he'd stoop so low to attack Wendy." He said, folding his arms over his chest. The old man nodded, frowning. "How's she doing, by the way?"

"She'll make a full recovery, but she's pretty shaken up. Carla is, too."

"Going after kids…" He trailed off, shaking his head. He nodded to the waitress that refilled his beer, glad for the alcohol to sooth his growing anger. "And that cloaked guy… he's got some kind of history with Nari. She's been freaked ever since she saw him."

Makarov's eyebrows raised, surprised by the information. "My source never mentioned him being in the guild. I have no idea who he is, nor the masked wizard."

"I don't like it." Laxus said simply, and the older man nodded.

As they sat in silence, quietly observing their guild mates and thinking about the games, the sound of thunder caused the bar to still for a moment. Having not sensed a storm earlier that evening, Laxus's gaze drifted towards the door, his brows pursed together in worry.

"I don't recall storm clouds…" Makarov commented, watching as his grandson stood up.

"Neither do I." The blond stated, and without another word, hurried out the door.

His gaze wandered up and down the street for his friend, hoping to find the familiar locks of brown hair nearby. Hoping that she'd made it back to the room and his worry was for naught, he jogged down the street back to the room, keeping an eye out for her along the way. Passerby gave him strange looks, but he ignored it, finally picking up on Nari's scent.

When he arrived at the room, he let out a sigh of relief.

The brunette was sitting on her bed, legs crossed beneath her and back against the headboard. Her head turned briefly in his direction, but she diverted her gaze almost immediately, turning towards the closed balcony.

It took him a minute to realize what was wrong with the situation. As he caught his breath and closed the door behind him, he realized that it was dark.

Flipping the light switch on, he saw her visibly cringe, shifting her position so that she was now hugging her knees, her expression still facing away from him. Upon further inspection, he noticed that she was shaking, her breathing was erratic, and heart was beating faster than normal.

"I heard thunder, but there's no storm. Weird, huh?" He asked, walking towards her. "Then I remembered that you fight using thunder magic…" He stopped when he heard a soft sob, now only a few feet from her bed. His eyes looked at her form up and down, seeing her fresh tears for the first time and noticing that part of her shirt was torn. No injuries were apparent on her, but given her healing magic, he wouldn't be surprised if she'd healed any visible signs of a struggle.

"I'm f-fine." She croaked, voice cracking. "J-just t-t-tired."

Slowly, he took a seat in front of her, shifting so that he was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the small bed. "You're really bad at lying." He commented, and she choked out a laugh, still unable to meet his gaze.

He wanted her to look at him, and hoped that staring at her would eventually coax her eyes, but she remained staring out the window ignoring him. After a few minutes of watching her cry, each sob that she tried to suppress, and each tear that rolled down her puffy red cheeks, he tried to push his anger down. His stomach was in knots at the sight, and rage bubbled beneath the surface for whoever did this.

"Was it Raven Tail?" He finally asked, his voice low, wishing that she would say something.

Her grip on her legs tightened, pulling them closer to her chest.

Trying to recall how to deal with crying women, Laxus finally remembered that hugging them usually helped. So he rolled onto his knees and crawled to her side, sitting down and then putting an arm around her shoulders, pulling her gently into his side. Not knowing what to say to cheer her up or get her talking, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"You're not alone." He whispered, and placed a small kiss on the top of her head.

6.

Laxus suppressed a growl every time he saw Raven Tail. He'd already informed his grandfather of last night, and his suspicion that they attacked Nari. At this knowledge Makarov ordered both of the Fairy Tail teams to stay in pairs or groups, since it seemed that they were being targeted.

Given how unforthcoming Nari was being, the two men kept her involvement silent as they informed the two teams of the new buddy system taking place. Natsu was so wound up they suspected that he might go ballistic if he heard about the attack- they already had to restrain him after what happened to Wendy and Lucy.

Laxus had a hard enough time holding back, he couldn't imagine how Natsu was coping, considering his personality. The blonde imagined several ways of killing Raven Tail, each new method becoming more gruesome and bloody.

It didn't help that the girl he liked was building so many walls around her, she barely spoke anymore. He could tell that she was in pain and yet he had no idea how to get rid of it.

His jaw clenched.

Two impulses were tugging at him: 1. Kill whoever hurt her. 2. Hug and comfort the hell out of her.

No matter how hard he tried to focus on the games, his thoughts always drifted back to her tears. It barely even registered that Gajeel was losing horribly in the Chariot race, or that the crowd was laughing at Fairy Tail because of the near puking dragonslayers.

The only thing that really caught his attention was the announcement of the last match for the evening, which caused his chest to restrict painfully.

"Did I just hear that?" He asked, looking at his teammates for confirmation, who were sporting equally confused and alarmed expressions. His eyes locked with the brunette's, who looked just as baffled by the announcement.

"Kaminari Hissori of Fairy Tail vs. Kironagi of Raven Tail." The announcer repeated, and Laxus could hear his guild master screaming and ranting from across the stadium.

"But she's already fought! Why would they make her fight again?" Mirajane asked, looking at the sitting woman with wide eyes.

"This is bull shit. These games are rigged." Laxus cursed, his eyes widening when the tribal woman jumped onto the railing he'd been leaning against, and then jumped the 50+ feet fall into the arena.

As she landed, an impressive shock wave rippled from her, effectively breaking the thin layer of dirt across the field and causing dust to rise a few feet in the air. A few waves emanated from her, accompanied by her usual thunder and looking particularly epic.

Fairy Tail cheered from the stadium, and impressed gasps echoed through the audience, excited by her show of power.

"She gets to fight again?!" Natsu shouted in desbelief from the sidelines.

The cloaked man was now dressed more like a ninja, and crawled from his team's observation lounge on the concrete wall, looking like a spider. With each step, Nari sent ripples through the ground, hoping to intimidate the creature that came closer.

"You're definitely stronger than your predecessors." It snickered, raising its hand to his mouth again, showing off his tattooed hand. "Shall we make a wager like the other wizards, hmmmmmmmm?" It hummed creepily, tilting its head at an awkward angle and leaning towards her. "If I win, I get your body."

"Tch, like I'd make a bet with you. If I won, you'd never keep your end of the bargain." She retorted, and the creature cackled loudly, throwing his head back in the laughter. Nari's eyes briefly landed on Laxus, who appeared ready to intervene at any moment. That brought her a small level of comfort.

"You know me so well, little girl. Well, you know _parts_ of me very well." The creature spoke, regaining her attention.

"Go fuck yourself." She sneered, and he chuckled.

"That's no way to speak to your father… or uncle. Or grandfather, great aunt, and great grandmother. MmmMmmmmMmm…."

Nari turned her head slightly, keeping an eye on her opponent, but listening to her friend's voice in the crowd.

"Nari, be careful! He could be the Skin Walker!" Risley yelled. The brunette couldn't help but scoff, returning her attention to the person in front of her.

"Duh." She muttered to herself.

"I like that tattoo on your neck." The creature stated, referring to her Fairy Tail emblem.

"You're not getting it." She said, her eyes narrowing.

"Fighters, are you ready?" The pumpkin man interrupted, jumping at the tense stares he received. "I, uh, you can begin!"

Kironagi launched forward towards the woman, and was met by a powerful scream that sent him hurtling back. As he rolled on his back, landing on his feet, he used the rising dust to his advantage and crawled along the floor nearly invisible.

"If you were human, you'd be dead right now." Nari announced, using extremely lethal and dense energy waves to bounce within the arena and hit her opponent over and over again, vibrating his flesh at such microscopic levels that he should have been deteriorating. In fact, she'd killed his kind before using less magic than this.

She could sense exactly where he was, which was over twenty yards away, which was why she jumped when she felt a hand grab her ankle. When she looked down she saw a decomposing hand emerging from the ground and latching onto her, and next to her other foot, another one was rising.

She turned and broke free of the grasp, only to have several others jump at her, causing her to curse and leap into the air.

That was her biggest mistake.

She could use her magic to move around the air and essentially levitate, but it didn't make her fast enough to dodge the several projectiles thrown her way. Only barely able to nudge the largest spear to keep it from piercing her heart, it still delve into her chest cavity and went all the way through. Several other sharpened bones in the shape of small spears and needles lodged into her legs, arms, stomach and chest, again only narrowly dodging her other vital organs.

Distracted by the pain she didn't feel the rope grab hold of her ankles and drag her down into a trap, where the body parts grabbed hold of her and held her up.

Her thunder magic made the arms clumsy, but they miraculously held up against it. The only theory she had was that he was powered up from his last 'meal'. Which, if he was telling the truth about killing her uncle, that would be pretty recent.

She could sense him throwing more of the small sharpened bone at her, once again only able to avoid them hitting critical areas on her body. The large spear was still lodged in her chest, and deep down, she knew the match was over as soon as it had hit her.

The creature was now running towards her, emerging from the dust cloud with its mutated dagger of a hand hurtling towards her.

"I forfeit the match! I give up!" She screamed loudly, and when the arm was merely inches from her face, lightning stuck in front of her.

To prevent her magic from hurting him, she stopped her thunder and instead pulled at the straining forces. Laxus now stood in front of her, standing between the snarling beast and her bleeding body.

The dust clouds began to disperse, and the crowd gasped, now able to see what was happening.

"I forfeit!" Nari yelled again, in case they hadn't heard her the first time, and tugged futilely against the restraints.

The creature crouched down and hissed, seeming to be merely annoyed by the lightning instead of injured. When it launched himself at Laxus, he struck him with another bolt of lightning.

Although he himself was not damaged, his clothes were, and now his cover had been blown. His demonic eyes and face glared and snarled at the mage. "You're not human." Laxus said in surprise, and sent another bolt of lightning down on him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like a strange development has occurred. Kironagi has been revealed to be some kind of demonic creature, and it looks like Laxus Drayer is defending his teammate from it. If I remember correctly, all participants of the Grand Magic Games have to be human, and if they're not, have to make a case for it."

"Kironagi is disqualified from the games!" The pumpkin man announced, and as the creature kept trying to attack the blond, he got progressively annoyed. His basic attacks weren't doing anything to it, and he didn't want to use his stronger attacks unless necessary.

He smelled Mirajane behind him, and heard her trying to get Nari out of the grotesque trap she was in.

Laxus was pleasantly surprised when the royal guard came onto the field and helped secure the demonic creature, using anti-magic weapons and the help of a few other wizards. He kept his eyes locked on the creature through the process, ready to protect Nari again if needed.

The sound of an object hitting the ground next to him caught his attention, and he was surprised to glance down and see that it was a blood soaked needle looking object.

"Nari, stop! Have Porlyusica look at it!" Mira spoke, and at her alarmed tone, Laxus turned to see what was happening.

"It doesn't hurt in the slightest." The brunette spoke as she pulled at the large spear in her chest, and the blond nearly had a heart attack as he watched her, both terrified and amazed at the lack of pain on her face.

Her angry gaze was locked on the creature being subdued, which was now being held down by 20+ guards.

After the spear was pulled out, she tossed it on the ground and turned to leave, pulling out the other small ones as she walked.

Laxus and Mirajane exchanged a bewildered look.

"… You should make sure she gets to the infirmary okay." Mirajane spoke after a second. He nodded, and then jogged after the bleeding woman, avoiding the blood trail she was leaving.

"… are you going to say that you're 'okay' again?" Laxus asked as they entered the covered hallway, walking next to her.

"Thanks for saving me." She said, ignoring his question and continuing to pull out the daggers.

"You're welcome… but… how are you not in pain right now?"

"I turned off the pain receptors in my brain. My healing magic is already working on my injuries." She replied, and he silently nodded, feeling slightly less terrified by her. Trying to regain his stoic posture, he ignored the hitch in her breath and crossed his arms. "He would have killed me if you hadn't intervened."

"Yeah." He said simply, and she briefly looked at him, surprised by the silence that followed.

"Why are you so nice to me?" She suddenly asked, stopping in her tracks.

Laxus stopped as well, turning to face the rather bloody woman. She'd taken the last of the needles out by now, and judging by the lack of skin discoloration, he guessed that she wasn't lying about her healing magic. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you so nice to me?" She repeated, not helping him understand.

After a moment of looking into her soft brown eyes, he shrugged, turning away. "I like you. I thought that was obvious by asking you out on dates."

"So you're nice to me because I'm cute?" She asked, and he gave her a confused look, trying to figure out what she was really trying to ask. Although she didn't look as bad as she should be, considering her injuries, she was pale and the bags under her eyes added to her sickly disposition. He pondered just how much her healing magic was working, and how much her words were simply a response to what just happened or actual questions she'd been wondering.

"If that was the only reason, I would have fucked you and dumped you by now." He said simply. "You seemed like a nice person, and I think you're cute, so I wanted to get to know you better. Does that answer your question?"

She sighed, looking away.

Evidently not.

"How about we continue this conversation in the infirmary? You're looking pretty pale."

"I'm fine."

"Clearly." He said sarcastically, watching her chew the side of her mouth in annoyance, but nonetheless start walking again. "I'm not going to let him hurt you again."

She snorted, and he watched her curiously, wondering what was going through her mind.

"You think I'm lying?"

Nari paused for a moment, putting her hands in her pockets and continuing to chew the inside of her cheek nervously. Her feet were beginning to stumble more as they walked, and she nearly bumped into him a couple of times. "I think you could put up a good fight, but ultimately lose."

Laxus frowned. ' _Did she just call me weak?'_ He silently wondered, still staring at her. It had been a long time since someone accused him of being weak, and usually after giving them a face full of lightning, they changed their tune pretty quickly. She'd seen his power, yet she thought he was weak?

The blond thought back to the times she had seen him fight, trying to remember the last time he demonstrated his magic to her. A few minutes ago he'd saved her life, but that was a poor example, since his attacks merely annoyed the creature and barely kept him at bay until help arrived. As he pondered the strange statement, he wondered if she had any idea that he was an s-class wizard, or easily the strongest mage in the guild, on par with Guildarts.

Before he could question her, they reached the infirmary. The cold medicine woman immediately shoved her on a bed and started inspecting/interrogating her, while Wendy and Carla tried to ask what happened and see if she was alright.

The dragonslayer sat in the empty seat by the bed Nari had been forced to lay on, arms crossed over his chest and watching in amusement as the two women bantered. Both of them were skilled healers, and as Laxus watched them, he realized that they both had massive egos when it came to medicine. The brunette's temper was especially fervent at the moment, and had been ever since the fight, so the blond couldn't help but be a little happy by the fact she wasn't just mad at him.

Porlyusica was so annoyed that she tried to inconspicuously drug the younger woman so that she could heal her without her snappy remarks, but Nari was too smart for that.

A couple hours later, when Wendy and Carla were asleep and the old woman had left the room, Laxus looked over at the bandaged woman with a smirk.

"What?" She asked, noticing the look. She was sitting upright, despite the old woman's instruction, and was leaning back against two fluffy pillows that had been propped against the head board.

"I'm just glad you're talking. I also didn't know that you're so passionate about healing magic." He said, and she blushed, looking away. "Why don't you use it more often? You obviously have a knack for it."

"It's complicated." She said simply, still not looking at him.

"You could explain it? I'm curious, and I have nowhere else to be." He said leaning back in his chair, arms still crossed in their usual manner. Despite how small the chair was relative to his body, he still tried to make himself comfortable. Mentally cheering when she looked back at him, he tried to appear slightly more relaxed, emphasizing his lack of wanting to leave.

"… It brings unwanted attention. That skin walker won't be the first to attack me, and it might not be the last, depending on how many are left. Actually, if it turns out that there's more, I might leave Fairy Tail to avoid getting anyone else hurt." She explained, watching his brows furrow in confusion as he tried to piece the information together. She was purposely leaving out huge holes in her story which wasn't helping.

"You're thinking of leaving Fairy Tail?" He asked after a moment.

"It's possible that Kironagi is the last of his kind. If that's the case, and he stays in custody, then I'll stay with Fairy Tail."

"So you're running? That's why you're so secretive and don't use your magic openly?"

She blushed, looking away again.

"If that's the reason, then you shouldn't worry so much. We're strong and can handle ourselves."

"They're not just everyday monsters, Laxus. They're from the book of Zeref. Neither of us could leave a scratch on Kironagi today at the fight, and even though I'm their target, they'd have no qualms in making a snack out of anyone nearby."

"Doesn't matter who they are, or how strong they are. You're family, and we take care of each other." Laxus stated, watching as her hands fidgeted with the sheet bundled on her lap.

He wasn't sure exactly brought on the sudden urge, and he was hesitant to act on it since she had finally opened up to him, but he decided to act on it nonetheless. He stood up, causing her to look up in surprise, and then placed his hand on the side of her face gently. A cute blush rose along her cheeks and deepened when he kissed her, gently touching her lips with his.

Keeping the kiss brief, he pulled away after only a few seconds, and then pecked her red cheek as well. As she simply stared at him with wide and surprised eyes, he returned to his seat, smirking at her.

Old Laxus would have banged her senseless by the end of the first date.

New Laxus was giving her their first kiss after two dates with her.

"Family, huh?" She asked after a moment, smiling at him. It took him a second to realize what she meant, and when he finally remembered his earlier statement, chuckled.

"You know what I meant."

The pink-haired woman walked in again, the usual scowl on her face as she approached them.

7.

Day 3 was Fairy Tail's major comeback in the game.

Laxus stood in his usual stoic pose in the middle of the arena, knocked out opponents spread out on the ground around him. When the illusion spell had worn off, a mix of surprised gasps and whispers took place, but it was less than a minute until all of those turned into a roar of applause.

Out of anyone in the crowd, his eyes were only drawn to one person, though-

Nari.

He couldn't help but smirk at her shocked expression. If this didn't show that he was strong, that he deserved his title as S-Class mage, he didn't know what would. She probably didn't even know that he'd been bothered by her comment, and he thought that he was above petty things like this- but he couldn't help it. Perhaps his ego was getting the better of him, or maybe he was just a 'real man' as Elfman would put it.

' _I can protect you.'_ He thought as he stared into her soft brown eyes. _'And don't you_ _ **ever**_ _think or say otherwise.'_

Her shocked expression suddenly turned into a smile, and he wondered if she knew what he was thinking. Having gotten that reaction from her at least, he turned his attention back to the crowd and the pumpkin man standing by him and chatting away.

Later, after he had been congratulated and fawned over by their guild and random passerby as they left the stadium, he found himself standing next to Nari and Risley. They were standing on a street corner, trying to make plans and ignore the random people that would stop and stare.

"Do you want to join us for drinks, Laxus?" Nari asked, having just been invited to drink with her old friend. The blond looked over to Risley.

"I don't want to intrude,"

"Nonsense! I'd love to have a drink with the most popular man in Fiore!" She said with a grin, smiling up at the man twice her size. "There's a cool little place a few blocks from here. The bartender is a fan of Mermaid Heel, so I get drinks for cheap there."

"Lead the way, home girl." The brunette said with a smile.

As they maneuvered through the crowded streets, they had to hold hands to not lose each other. Laxus would be hard to lose, given his height, but the girls were slightly shorter than the average person, making it easier for them to disappear in the chaos.

When they finally reached the small bar, Laxus's sensitive nose was assaulted with stale cigar smoke and tequila. It was slightly less crowded than the other bars, some of which had lines leading out the door, but it was also a bit rundown and unkempt.

Risley led them to the back of the bar, where they found a small empty table with several bar stools. It was far enough away from the other customers that they'd be able to talk.

"Bar wench! Get us some shots!" Risley yelled to the bartender, who at first turned and glared at the name, only to smirk when she realized who it was.

"If you want drinks, you're gonna have to get off your fat ass to get it." The bartender replied. The short woman smirked, removing her gravity magic to make her grow taller and thinner, and then walked over to the bar.

Nari giggled, noticing that there were several people openly staring at Laxus. There was even a crowd forming outside.

"You're popular today." She commented, and he glanced in the direction she was looking, grunting in response. He looked over to Risley, who was getting the drinks, and overheard the bartender say the first round was free, and then wink at him.

"What did you think of my match today?" The blond asked, turning to the bandaged woman.

"I think you were pretty bad ass." She replied, and then turned her attention to her friend that approached. "What kind of shots?"

"Tequilaaaaa~" The young woman sang, taking a seat in the empty bar stool. They all took one of the shots and clinked them together. "To drunken shenanigans!"

Afterwards they slammed their shot glasses down.

"I can't wait to get you drunk." Risley told the woman, who merely chuckled awkwardly.

"I don't think I've ever seen you drunk before." Laxus commented. "Have I seen you drink at all?"

"I don't plan on getting drunk tonight."

"Like hell you're not! I may have been too young to party with you 9 years ago, but I sure as hell am not missing out again! You are _the_ party legend!" Risley yelled. "I'll even pay for all of your drinks!"

"You'll probably be disappointed, Ris. I haven't drank since I left the village." Nari stated, but the woman simply held a shot glass up to her, indicating their second round of shots. They clinked their glasses together and downed it like before.

"Damn, I forgot chasers! What do you guys want?" Risley asked, turning to the woman across from her.

"Mango juice. If they don't have it, OJ."

"Same." Laxus said simply, noticing the grin on his companion's face. He couldn't recall seeing her so happy before, and he caught himself being mesmerized by the joyful glint in her eyes.

"Do I have something on my face?" She asked suddenly, and he blinked, continuing to stare at her.

"Uh, no. I just like your smile." He said awkwardly, and she grinned, a small blush spreading along her tan cheeks. "So you're a party animal, huh?"

"I used to be." She said with a shrug, and returned her attention to her friend as she set the glasses in front of them.

"Isn't that your guild master?" Risley suddenly asked, causing the wizards to turn and look at what she was staring at. Laxus groaned, wondering what the old man was doing there, and whether it had anything to do with him.

Makarov turned to the small group, and upon finding them, headed their way. He hopped onto a nearby bar stool, ignoring the blonde's sour expression. "I need you for an important mission." The old man stated.

"Well I'm busy. Can't you find someone else to do it?"

"Mavis requested both of us specifically." He stated, and the blond frowned. If it was just the old geezer requesting his presence, he'd have no problem saying no. The first guild master, on the other hand…

Laxus sighed, turning to his companions. "Sorry ladies." He said with an apologetic smile, but before he stood to leave, he took another shot. As he stood up he pulled out a twenty to help pay for drinks, but Risley shook her head.

"Drinks are on me." She told him. The man shrugged, putting the money back in his pocket.

"Sorry girls." Makarov apologized, understanding his grandson's reluctance to leave the beautiful women. Despite the bandages on Nari's limbs, she was still quite the catch, and her friend was quite attractive when her gravity magic wasn't pulling her down.

As the two men left, they waved goodbye, silently wishing that Laxus's coat wasn't so long.

"He's cute." Risley commented after they'd left, a quarter of the bar folk disappearing with them.

"Yeah he is." She said with a grin, and they clinked their shot glasses together. "To cute guys!"

8.

Laxus quietly moped by the pool, his head held up lazily by his arm propped on his knee. His feet were in the water, but his mind was elsewhere, wondering what his girl was up to. Now that he knew she was much more social with drinking, he was determined to take her bar hopping on their next date.

His grandfather sat nearby with his legs criss-crossed, eyes closed as he quietly meditated. Mavis was having a blast in the water, playing and splashing with his teammates that enjoyed acting childishly with her. Bickslow's babies were especially active, which surprised Laxus since he usually doesn't bring them to social events, but the first guild master seemed extremely entertained by them. The small totems flew around, splashed in the water, and even served as floaties on occasion.

If he'd known that they were going to a water park, he would have invited Nari and her friend to join him. There was a bar nearby that they could have continued their shots, and even if Laxus couldn't join them in drinks, he could at least take shifts with gramps and take small breaks with them.

As his gaze lazily surveyed his surroundings, he froze, eyes widening at who he saw.

The two women in question were walking to the bar, swaying slightly as they did so, and clad in bikinis. Despite only just arriving, both of them already had men walking up to them or ogling them, offering to buy them drinks. Laxus gave his coldest glare to the men, who although didn't realize his was glaring at them, visibly stiffened and looked around paranoid, feeling his gaze.

Nari still had bandages on her in places, but a good chunk of her legs and arms were visible. On the skin of her thigh that was exposed, Laxus could see an intricate tattoo that looked to be covering half her leg. Most of it was covered by the bandages, but he couldn't help but be curious about the markings, wanting to see all of it.

As he was busy looking at her, he didn't realize what she was actually doing until a burst of flame erupted from her mouth. It startled the men around her and several others in the area, as the flame took on a life of its own and formed the shape of their Fairy Tail emblem, flying high into the air and eventually dissipating. The impressive fire had been extremely large, taking up maybe 20 feet in width and large enough for everyone in the park to see.

Screams and cheers rang out from members of Fairy Tail, and some non Fairy Tail guests that simply cheered for the fun of it. His team and himself were no exception. Mavis was especially impressed by the show, laughing and smiling.

"Another pyromaniac in the guild?" Makarov grumbled, and Laxus couldn't help but laugh.

Risley seemed especially entertained, laughing at the expressions of the scared people around them. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" She exclaimed, and Nari gave a proud grin before returning a lighter to the bartender.

"A round of shots on me!" Bacchus exclaimed, coming out of nowhere and slinging his arms around the two women. "Cuz we like it wild!" He yelled, causing his group in the pool to yell 'wild!' in response. Kana joined them for the shot, and after chugging it down, the two drunkards jumped back into the pool.

Risley and Nari stayed by the bar chatting, and even though he knew it was wrong, Laxus couldn't help but eavesdrop. They were so loud that he could have heard them without his heightened hearing, so he didn't feel too bad.

"So only 2 years have passed for you?" Risley asked, and Nari nodded.

"Dude, we should get French fries. Drinks dude, can we get fries?" Nari asked excitedly, causing the bartender to smile and laugh as he went to get some for them.

"What have you been doing since you left our village?" The woman asked, trying to get her friend back on topic. Despite the alcohol she was pretty sure that the brunette was avoiding the topic, but she was determined to pursue it.

"This and that. Joined Blue Pegasis for a year or so, and then left to join Fairy Tail."

"Date any cute guys? Other than the hunk by the pool, I mean." She asked, causing the woman to give her a confused look. Risley nudged her head in Laxus's direction, who was pretending to be distracted by watching his team playing in the pool.

"Laxus!" Nari yelled, gaining his attention. She waved to him, and he awkwardly waved back. She gave him a questioning look, silently asking why he was there, and he pointed to Mavis in the pool. Without another word she nodded sympathetically and went back to her drinking companion.

"So who else have you dated?" Risley asked, going back to her original question.

"I haven't." The brunette said awkwardly, turning to her glass of water. The other woman frowned, staring at her friend. "For the most part I've been working, reading, and pretty antisocial."

"But you were the party goddess! You slept with who you wanted, when you wanted, caught things on fire and danced like the thunder goddess you are. You were my role model!"

The thunder woman laughed loudly, her voice booming through the water park.

"You made people happy, girl. I don't get why you gave that up."

"Hey, we are here to catch up and have fun, not mope about shit."

"Alright, just tell me one thing and then we can move on."

"Fine, what?"

"What happened to your mom? Was it the demon that killed her?" Risley asked, watching her friend's gaze avert to the French fries put in front of them and a superficial smile graze her lips. "Come on, you've got to give me something. Your house was practically demolished, your mom dead, you were gone." As she spoke, her voice lowered so that the surrounding passerby couldn't hear. "We figured that the demon had eaten you and just didn't leave any remains."

"That is their style." The brunette commented, popping one of the fries into her mouth. After a moment of staring off into space, she finally answered. "My mom fought until the end. She was a warrior through and through. She distracted the demon until I got away, sacrificing herself in the process."

Two more shots were set in front of them.

Risley picked one up, "To your mom. One hell of a fighter." Their glasses clinked together. After they drank, they slammed their glasses on the table. "So that demon you fought yesterday. Was that the same one?"

"I thought that was your last question? I'd rather talk about that boy you're thinking about asking out, to be honest." The brunette said with a mischievous grin, watching her friend's cheeks light up. "What's his name? What does he look like?"

"I'm not going to tell you his name, but he has the cutest butt ever." Risley said, and the girls started giggling and laughing. "He likes astronomy. He and I went stargazing together a few weeks ago, and I think he likes me."

"Who couldn't like you? You're a hot momma." The woman stated, causing Risley to blush and grin.

"I missed you."

"I miss you, too. It's so weird to see you all grown up. How old are you now?"

"24."

"Shit, you're older than me?"

"Am I?" She asked, blinking in surprise, but then smirking. "Aw hell ya!" She suddenly screamed, throwing her hands in the air.

"Congratulations, old hag." Nari snickered, causing the woman to pause and glare.

"Hey, I'm a sexy 'hot momma', remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't let it go to your head." She said, munching away on her fries.

"So was the demon today the one that attacked you 9 years ago?"

"Goddamn you are not going to let that go, are you?"

"Oh come on, can you blame me for being curious? My idol, who I thought was dead, reappears from the grave and for mysterious reasons become a nun. What happened to you, man? Your teenage shenanigans are so legendary that they've turned into campfire stories."

"Maybe I grew up." She said with a shrug, and then ordered a mojito from the bartender. "And I don't know if it was the same demon. I do know that the demon I fought yesterday ate my dad's corpse, since he had his tattoo. The demon claimed to have most of my family, but I'm more inclined to believe it was lying."

"It killed your dad?!" She asked exasperatedly, and by the pool, Laxus looked up at the information.

"More likely it happened across him when it was eating the dead from Deliora's attack. My uncle said that debris fell on my dad and that's what killed him. The reason my attacks didn't do shit against the demon yesterday was because he still had the healing magic from my dad."

"Shit. Did you know that before the match yesterday?"

She shrugged. "I thought I could handle it."

"It killed your parents and you didn't bother telling anyone?"

"I only know it ate my dad. I don't know about my mom."

"Still."

"Demon's in custody, no one was hurt- everything worked out. Oh hell yeah." She said, getting distracted by the giant drink the size of her head being handed to her.

"Compliments of the older man over there." The bartender stated, and both women peered over their shoulders to look, seeing none other than Ichiya standing there. Natsu was standing by him, appearing to be clueless to the nature of the drink, but nonetheless smiled and waved.

"Is this a mojito on steroids?" Nari asked.

"Something like that. I'm making one for you as well." The bartender answered, and winked at Risley.

"I'm so glad you're not dating another seith mage." Risley randomly stated, and at the mention of his magic, Bickslow looked up. The momentary distraction proved against his favor, as Fried used the opportunity to tackle him into the water.

"What's wrong with seith mages?"

"Do you not remember the last time you dated one?" She asked, and the woman pondered for a moment, looking at the ceiling.

"I thought she was pretty awesome. Cute as a button. I love conversations with seith mages. It's like they're communicating directly to your soul, and it's the most personal and awesome conversations ever."

"Until they possess you into walking off a cliff. Do you seriously not remember that?" Risley asked, watching her friend search her brain for the memory.

"Oh yeah… I don't remember much from those few weeks. I probably deserved it."

"Do you even remember what set her off?"

"Not really. Did I cheat on her or something?"

"You got her the wrong kind of flowers, so she soul possessed you into walking off a 100 foot cliff. You were lucky to survive."

"Really?" She asked, scratching the back of her head before taking another sip of her drink.

"Apparently it wasn't the first time, either. She was crazy."

"Really? She had the most beautiful eyes. So did Carlos! I love seith mage eyes."

"Carlos?"

"Gay as a ken doll, but goddamn, his accent combined with those eyes led to the most beautiful heart to heart conversations. Or, I suppose, soul to soul conversations. He was only in the village for a few weeks, and most people avoided him because of his magic, but he had the coolest stories and sweetest soul."

"Isn't there a seith mage at Fairy Tail? Why haven't you hooked up with him? Not that I'm encouraging it."

She shrugged. "He wears that visor so often. I also never intended to date anyone, so I wasn't really looking."

"So why'd you go out with Laxus?"

"I dunno. I had planned to say 'no' when I overheard him talking to his friends about me, but something about him was so sweet when he asked, I couldn't help but say yes."

"Man, you've changed so much. It's weird." Risley said as she shook her head. Suddenly both women looked up, hearing screams and yells from the 'love love slide', watching the chaotic scene unfolding. They both sipped at their drinks, watching the couples go down the slide screaming while poor Natsu was motion sick on the weird heart shaped object. "Is that Natsu?"

"That's my guild for you. Better drink up, this entire place is going to be rubble soon." She said, and began drinking her beverage quickly.

Not five minutes later her prediction came true. Ice replaced the water in the pools, and a pissed off Natsu was hurtling towards the ice with his fire magic. The resulting explosion took out most of the park, though Nari used her thunder magic to protect her and her friend from any damage. Instead, they continued sitting on their stools like nothing happened, completely unscathed.

Risley cracked up laughing, entertained by the antics of Fairy Tail.

After they finished their drinks and noticed that their guild mates were trying to gather in their respective groups, they gave each other hugs and went their separate ways, promising to hang out more in the future.

"Have fun?" Laxus asked as she approached him, grinning stupidly and stumbling as she walked.

"I don't even know where I am right now." She giggled, and looked around. "Enjoy eavesdropping?" She asked, turning back to the blond man. A light blush tinted his cheeks, definitely not expecting to be caught, especially since she was so drunk.

"Sorry."

"It's a'right. I didn't say anything I wasn't okay with you hearing." She said, swaying and almost falling over, had he not reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "I don't even remember the last time I drank this much. Dude, when did you get that bad ass scar?" Nari asked, suddenly reaching forward and trying to touch his scar, and instead almost poking his eye.

In the background, there was a mix of crying, angry yelling, and embarrassed panicked yelling, most of which was Fairy Tail wizards.

Makarov was especially livid, thinking about the repairs they'd have to pay for and yelling at the laughing Natsu.

"So you have a thing for seith mages?" Laxus asked, making sure his teammate was far enough away to not hear the conversation.

Nari snickered, grinning at him. "I used to. According to Ris one of them gave me brain damage, though."

"If it makes you feel better, I'd kill Bickslow if he did that to you." He said, and she snickered. Feeling her body sway whenever his grip loosened, he opted to put his arm around her and pull her to his side, beginning to walk towards the exit. Her feet were unsteady beneath her, but he managed to stay stable enough for the both of them.

Her hand reached behind him, wrapping her arm around his waist for extra support. In the background Laxus heard a few disappointed sighs.

"I'm sorry about your mom." Laxus stated after they had left the crowded water park, now walking down the equally crowded street.

"Thanks." She replied, distracted by the feel of his taught muscles. He was still just in swim trunks, allowing quite a bit of skin-on-skin contact. Nari rested the side of her face against his shoulder, sighing at how nice it felt to be so close to someone, and moved her thumb ever so slightly with her hand on his hip.

Laxus blushed at the contact. Being touched by a woman was hardly new to him, but dating was, and the subtle gesture got his brain working a mile a minute.

' _She's drunk. There's nothing to think about. And even if she wasn't, you were going to touch eventually.'_ He thought to himself, frowning. _'It's not like you haven't thought about it…. Extensively._ '

"Whatchya thinkin' bout?" She slurred, bringing the dragonslayer out of his thoughts.

"Nothing."

"Just nothin'?" She asked, looking up at him with wide brown eyes, her cute freckled nose having a small green spot on it.

"You have-" Before he could finish his statement, he bumped into someone, derailing his train of thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**Laxus Two Shot**

 _Lightning to my Thunder_

Upon their return to Magnolia, along with their new Guild Hall, they had an outrageous party to break it in.

Laxus had managed to talk her into drinking with him and his team. Well, all of them except Evergreen, who kept randomly leaving to argue with Elfman about one thing or another.

"Dude, why do you wear a visor?" Nari finally asked after her second drink, the comment causing the man to grin widely.

"I use seith magic and can use a technique called 'soul possession' on people, which allows me to control people's bodies. I can also see souls. People generally get wigged out by it, so I wear the visor to make them more comfortable."

"But seith mage eyes are so pretty. Why are you denying people your pretty eyes?" She asked, her statement catching him completely off guard. In his entire life he'd never heard of someone liking his eyes. Weird or creepy, sure, but never 'pretty'.

"Didn't the last person that used soul possession on you give you brain damage?" Laxus asked, watching his girlfriend's eyes turn to him for a moment, probably forgetting that he knew that.

"Soul possession doesn't cause brain damage." Bickslow said, offended by the statement.

"Her ex apparently used soul possession to make her walk off a cliff." He explained, making him do a double take as he looked back to the young woman at his side.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I don't remember much about those few weeks with her. It's kind of a blur. Anyway, seith mage eyes are pretty. Do you know Carlos, by chance?"

"Carlos Digger?" He asked, and she smiled, excited by his words.

"Yeah! He visited my village once, and we had the most amazing conversations."

"Really? He kinda creeped me out."

"What? Why? He's such a sweet heart."

"He's also sweetly gay. In our two minute conversation he did nothing but hit on me."

"The guy with the weird… thing?" Laxus asked his friend, unable to think of a better word for his hat. The seith mage nodded. "You liked that guy?" He asked, turning back to Nari.

"You guys are shallow." She said before taking a sip of her mojito.

"I thought he was quite pleasant as well." Fried spoke up.

"Thank you!" She said happily, ignoring the slight blush on his cheeks.

As the night progressed, Laxus was glad that she got along with his friends. It seemed like the events of the Grand Magic Games loosened her up considerably, and the more she talked with the Thunder Legion, the more it seemed like she'd been friends with them for years rather than days. Whether or not she'd planned it, her statement about Bickslow's eyes instantly won him over, and her occasional pro-gay comments made Fried comfortable with her presence.

If he was honest with himself, he never really expected their relationship to last. She wasn't the usual type of girl that he went out with, and when he first started eyeing her, he thought she was actually quite bland. Given the length of his usual relationship, he figured that he'd go through a few girls before he found one he actually liked.

The more he learned about her, the more perfect she seemed. She was powerful, confident in her own way, experienced in several fields, kind, considerate, and attractive. Aside from her tendency to put walls up, they seemed like a good match.

He didn't really plan on walking her home, nor drunkenly entering her apartment after a few too many drinks.

He especially didn't expect the hungry lips on his, or her wandering hands exploring his torso curiously. As he observed the situation even further, he realized that he was on top of her on a couch, moving just as much (if not more) than she was. Confused by the progression of events, he pulled away from the kiss to look at her, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the lighting.

"You okay?" She asked, panting for breath. Acting purely on instinct, the blonde dove for her neck, planting kisses along her delectable skin and lightly nipping at her tender flesh.

2.

Laxus flinched as he tried to move, feeling a pounding headache crack through his skull. It didn't help that strange smells and sounds met his senses, adding to his confused state and drawing out a grunt from him.

He sighed, trying to remember the night before, slowly blinking his eyes awake. As he stared at the ceiling, he recognized the scent of vanilla and coconuts belonging to none other than Nari.

But she wasn't in bed with him.

He lifted himself up and propped his upper body with his elbows, looking around the messy room. Random articles of clothing were strewn about on the limited furniture, and he noticed that there were no pictures or artwork anywhere. Hearing the sound of feet pattering in the next room, he slowly got up and walked towards the sound.

The scent of bacon washed over him as he opened the door, and he smiled at the cook facing away from him.

Tip-toeing closer, he heard her humming a soft tune unknown to him, and placed his hands on her hips. She jumped, but immediately relaxed when she realized who it was, leaning back into his hard chest. His hands snaked around her front and held her close, while his lips occupied themselves with her neck.

"Morning." She said with a smile, and continued flipping the cooking vegetables in the skillet. A soft hum vibrated against the man's lips, and he made his way back up to her ear, nibbling on her lobe softly.

"G'morning. What are you making?"

"Stir fry and bacon."

"That's a weird mix."

"You'll like it. How'd you- sleep?" She asked, her breath hitching when one of his hands dipped beneath her large shirt, trailing along her stomach and moving upward.

"Wonderfully." He whispered into her ear, going back to his nibbling and gently cupping her breast.

"Someone's frisky this morning…. And naked." She added, realizing that he was still nude.

"Someone else isn't wearing underwear."

3.

Fairy Tail had an unexpected visitor that day. Well, several, actually.

Laxus and Nari came to the Guild Hall hand in hand, only to pause in the doorway and stare at the 30+ extra guests mingling with the wizards. At the sight of them, one of them yelled 'Nari!', and suddenly everyone in the Guild Hall turned towards them.

They awkwardly unlocked their hands, not sure what was going on.

"Kelsey?"

"Nari!" All at once, many of the newcomers descended on the woman, pulling her every which way into hugs and kisses. The blond man was instantly pushed to the side, and considering how strong their pushes were, was glad to not be caught up in it.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We heard you were alive, so we came to visit!"

"Can we party yet?!" Natsu yelled as he jumped onto a nearby table, looking antsy to start throwing some fire around.

"We just partied last night, Natsu." Laxus commented, but the pink-haired boy merely grinned.

"They want to do some kind of ceremony thing for Nari's mom. All I know is that it involves fire and partying. We've been waiting for you guys to show up for the past hour." He informed him, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The dragonslayers looked back to the group of tribal men and women, who were speaking in mixed languages and talking over each other. "Come on!" Natsu yelled.

"Natsu's right- let's get this started!" One of the women yelled, her voice booming through the new guild hall like thunder. The group took a few steps back to give Nari some room, and the one that had yelled was handing her a drink and lighter. "In honor of my sister's glorious death in battle, and Kamanari's return from the dead, we're going to have another informal Kaplah!"

Nari took a drink from the glass in her hand, and just like at the swim park, caused fire to erupt from her mouth. A giant dragon roared into the air and boomed in the enclosed space, catching a few unlucky wizards on fire as the dragon hands and feet touched the ground.

After a few seconds the dragon disappeared, followed by the clicks and yells of Nari and her people. Natsu joined in the cheering and, soon enough, the second Fairy Tail party had begun.

Laxus found himself sitting on the sidelines for the most part, occasionally chatting with his team that would wander by and then disappear back into the chaos. He'd found a nice spot on the second floor, sitting on a table top that overlooked the outrageous party taking place.

The villagers wouldn't let Nari out of their sight. Everytime she started to tone down, they would start chanting for her to do something else, and every time she had to top the previous thing she did.

Miraculously, she never disappointed. From fire creatures, to fire dancing, to levitating in the air- she knew how to be a showman. Eventually she managed to rope Natsu into taking over for her, and since the party had been quieting down, she didn't get any complaints.

The thunder woman took a seat next to Laxus, sighing heavily. It was almost 4 AM.

"You've been holding back on us." The blond commented, and she chuckled, a soft smile on her lips. Her eyes were closed, leaning back on her arms that were propped up behind her.

"After being the center of attention for my entire life, it was kinda nice blending into the background at Fairy Tail. It was also nice letting loose tonight, though. I haven't used my magic so much in years."

"You look tired."

"After my disappearing act, I figured I owed them a good show."

"Why'd you leave in the first place?" He asked, and she sighed again. He couldn't tell if she was sad or tired, probably a little of both.

Her brown eyes opened and looked around them, making sure that no one was nearby to overhear their conversation. "My mom didn't die in battle. I only said that so that she'd be remembered as a warrior."

He watched her for a moment, and nodded, looking back to the dancing below.

"I found her hanging by a rope with a note nearby. I was so upset that I destroyed the house and booked it, taking the note with me. I've never been a good liar, so I just… left."

"So you've been acting like someone you're not to honor her memory?" He asked, and she chuckled.

"I suppose. But I guess we all have our reasons to act like different people." She commented, giving him a pointed look.

"What?"

"I was just wondering what your reasons were."

He scoffed, not bothering to look at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I can tell when people lie to me. You've been pretending to be someone you're not, and I'm curious about the reasons."

"Just because you have skeletons in your closet, doesn't mean that I do." He denied, and knew how obviously false it was as the words left his mouth.

"Skeletons, demons- they're not always so literal with most people. What's the real reason you asked me out?"

He glanced over at her, feeling an odd sense of dejavu at the look she was giving him. He silently wondered if she was simply getting payback for when he complained about her lack of forthcoming with her issues, but the more he thought about it, he realized it was a bit hypocritical to want her to be honest when he wasn't. He finally grunted in resignation. "I used to be a dick. I figured starting a mature relationship with someone would change that."

She smiled. "Was that so hard?"

"Whatever."

Laxus felt a soft hand trail up his exposed arm and then wander to his back. A pair of soft lips pressed against his shoulder and the matching body pressed against his side.

"I should warn you about something." He said after a moment, causing her to look up at him with curious eyes. "Over the next week I'm going to be a bit grouchy and irritable. It's a stupid dragonslayer thing."

"Oh?" She asked, gently pressing her warm lips against his shoulder again.

"Dragons have this 'mating season' every other year, and it lasts for about a week. They mate for life, and there's a process to make someone their permanent mate."

"So it's like a marriage thing?"

"Without the option to get a divorce."

"Are you asking me to dragon marry you?"

"No, but I'll be more… open to the idea during mating season, and wanted to warn you. The process involves drinking each others blood and exchanging magic."

"How romantic."

"I think so." He replied, equally sarcastic.

"Nari, Nari, Nari," Chanting from below caught their attention, and they both looked down to see that Natsu was leading the chant.

"Is this party ever going to end?" Laxus asked, looking over at the woman next to him.

"From the looks of it, no." She said with a mischievous grin, and then jumped onto the railing in front of them, her balance impeccable as the crowd cheered for her.

Laxus stood up and grabbed her by the waist, causing her to fall back into his arms. Smirking at the crowd, he kissed her on the cheek, getting catcalls and whistles; his eyes locked with Natsu, silently threatening the boy who snickered and quickly caught everyone's attention again with his fire magic.

"You didn't have to do that." Nari spoke as she turned to look at him, only to have a hungry pair of lips ravage her own. His tongue slipped into her moist cavern and after a few seconds of tongue play, he pulled away, smirking at her flushed face. Her tinted cheeks were more likely from the temperature of the room, which was extra warm from all the fire magic and activity, but he preferred to think it was from the kiss.

"Who said I was doing it for you?" He asked huskily, and nipped her lower lip with his teeth. "Although I _can_ sense that your magic is almost depleted." He added with a shrug, keeping her back firm against his chest.

"You can?" Nari asked, her face only centimeters from his own.

"Yeah, can't you sense mine?"

"Not really. Well, vaguely, I guess."

"Huh." He muttered, already busying himself with placing small kisses along the side of her face. Feeling a bit self-conscious, Nari tried to get out of his grasp, but he seemed to have no intent of letting her go.

"So when does your mating season start?"

"Last night." He muttered against her skin, now making his way down her neck.

"I'm all for a putting on a show, but not this kind of show. Let's get back to my place, huh?"

"Sounds good. I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick, though."

"I'll meet you outside." She said, receiving yet another ravaging kiss from him that left her head spinning. After a moment he finally pulled his face away and, reluctantly, his hands. His blue eyes stayed transfixed on her brown ones, temporarily mesmerized by them. "Get going, dragonslayer. We've got some 'mating' to do." She said with a wink that almost brought him back for another kiss.

After a few more seconds of staring, the man gave his signature smirk, and then walked away moving slightly faster than normal.

Smiling to herself, she grabbed Laxus's coat from the table and headed towards the exit, excited for some alone time with him. 2 years was a long time to go without sex, and even though she felt a bit rusty, it was as good as she remembered.

As she vacated the hot and loud building, a cold breeze brushed against her sweaty skin, causing her to shiver. She hoped Laxus wouldn't mind her using his jacket for the time being, and pulled it over her shoulders, enjoying the warmth and smell. Tugging it closer to her body, a warm tingly sensation spread through her.

It had been a good night. She got to see her friends and family from her village and end things right with them, and now she was about to go home with her hopefully long-term boyfriend.

"Oi." Someone spoke, and the voice brought the woman out of her thoughts, surprised that she'd been caught. The villagers were more than used to her disappearing with men (or women) without saying goodbye, and since they were going to be here the next day, it's not like it would be the last they'd see of her.

But these women weren't from her village. There were four of them total, all adorned in too much make up and perfect hair, and had Fairy Tail symbols on various parts of their bodies. She recognized them as new members of the guild, having only joined yesterday along with several other wizards. They looked to be a few years younger than her, maybe 16 or 17 years old.

"Hey, how's it going?" Nari asked with a smile.

"You're that girl that's always bugging Laxus." The blond one spoke, appearing to be the leader of the group.

Raising an eyebrow at them, she paused for a second, trying to gauge whether she was serious or not. "… I'm his girlfriend."

"You don't deserve him." Another one spoke.

"Yeah, get lost."

"Woooah, I think you guys need to take a second and chill out." Nari spoke, trying not to laugh at them. "I think it's cute that you guys have a crush on him, but it's not nice to gang up on people like this. You're not going to make friends at Fairy Tail that way."

"We only joined to be closer to Laxus. We're his official fan club."

"We voted Stacey should date him, because she's smart, hot, funny, nice- everything you're not." The brunette of the group sneered, and her cheeks puffed out in anger at the utterly amused expression on Nari's face.

"Ready to go, babe?" Laxus spoke as he walked up behind Nari and put his arm around her shoulders, adding a kiss to her temple. He completely ignored the group of girls that quieted at his arrival, even the small squeak of a greeting from one of them.

The thunder woman smiled at his presence. "It's about time."

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered as they started walking, leaving the girls to giggle and squeal to themselves without acknowledging their presence in the slightest. Once they were a few blocks away, Nari put her arm around his waist and leaned into him.

"Should I be worried about competition, Laxus?" She asked curiously, and although not intimidated by those girls specifically, it did remind her that he got a lot of publicity during the Grand Magic Games. Even before the games he had the strange ability to make people obsess over him, and now it would likely worsen.

He scoffed at the question. "No. My eyes are only on you." He stated, and kissed the top of her head. "I'm yours and yours alone."

"Good." She said simply, and remained quiet until they returned to her apartment.

"So why'd you agree to go out with me?" He asked suddenly, keeping his hands on her as they moved to the bedroom.

"Because you're strong, mostly." She replied, and then was turned rather forcefully to face him, his bedroom eyes locking with hers. "I was originally going to say 'no' when you asked me out, namely because I have demons after me, which usually aren't very strong but does require a bit of muscle to take out. If I was going to take the risk of getting close to someone, I wanted to date someone I wouldn't need to worry about."

An amused chuckle escaped his lips as he descended onto her neck again, kissing and licking along her exposed flesh.

"What's so funny?"

"I misheard something you said the other day."

"What did you think I said?"

"I had the impression you thought I was weak." He said, and then pushed her onto her bed, watching her breasts bounce with each spring that sent her body upwards. Laxus pulled his shirt off over his head, giving his girlfriend a particularly nice view of his chiseled abdomen.

"You are an S-Class wizard." She pointed out.

"I wasn't sure if you knew that." He said with a smirk, and leaned down to lock their lips together, pouring as much passion into it as he could. She did the same, matching his veracity and pulling him onto her. His hand snaked behind her back and lifted her, moving her more towards the center of the bed and keeping their lips in contact.

As she moved her body against his, particularly her hips that moved in a sensuous figure eight, he felt a strange vibration come off her heated muscles. The vibration moved through him, and despite it being new to him, felt oddly arousing.

After a few minutes of exploring her mouth, managing to grab her wrists and pin them over her head in the process, he pulled away. An idea popped into his head, remembering their earlier conversation, and he leaned down so that his lips were barely touching her ear.

"I'm yours, and you are mine." He growled against her, and trailed his free hand up her torso to land on her breast, squeezing it gently. "I'm yours. Say it."

Figuring that his new possessiveness was part of his dragonslayer mating, she went along with it, curious about his strategy. When she didn't say anything immediately, he bit down against the tender flesh of her neck, eliciting a surprised sound from her. "You're mine."

"Again."

His teeth were still digging into her skin, the place between her neck and shoulder and just above her collarbone.

"You're mine." She repeated, adding a bit more volume to her voice.

"Again."

He was beginning to draw blood, but she couldn't help but smile against the blond locks of hair along her jaw, both turned on and amused by the overly 'macho' aspect of it.

"You're mine, Laxus Dreyar." She said, growling into the declaration this time. He seemed pleased with her response, and finally unlatched his teeth to claim her lips again, pressing the full of his body into her. It was a little difficult for her to breath, but she nonetheless enjoyed the passionate response and made her tongue active against his own. When she started getting light headed from lack of oxygen, he finally pulled away, an all too familiar cocky smirk dancing along his lips. She recognized the look from the games, just after he'd defeated Raven Tail and looked up at her that same cocky smirk, as if proving something to her.

"Do _I_ have anyone to compete with?" He asked, silently challenging her to give him a name.

"No."

"And why is that?"

A dry laugh escaped her lips, barely making a sound as she continued staring into his clear blue eyes. They reminded her oddly of a storm in the summer, yet at the same time, a clear blue sky with not a cloud in sight, depending on the light and angle she looked at him.

"Because I'm yours." She said, knowing that that's what he wanted to hear.

"Damn straight." He said, now releasing her hands and finally moving to remove her top.

4.

Nari sighed as she descended her arms into the hot water, loving the relaxed feeling that followed. She'd healed most of the injuries from the previous night, but since her magic was so low from the night's festivities, she could only do so much. The visible injuries were gone, aside from the bite on her neck (which Laxus insisted she not heal), but her muscles ached tremendously.

"Someone got lucky last night." Kana spoke from nearby, earning a knowing smirk from the other brunette. The only people in the communal bath were them and Levy, since almost everyone else were doing jobs or resting from the previous night.

"Are you talking about me or you?" Nari countered, opening her eyes and tilting her head to look at her.

Kana smirked, but then smiled and snickered, unable to keep a straight face. "Both of us, from the sound of it. That's a pretty gnarly bite mark."

"Yeah, my magic is still low from partying last night, so I could only heal so much before coming here."

"Speaking of which, that was quite a show last night. You've been holding out on us, you little pyro."

"It really was amazing to watch." Levy added, her cheeks red from the warm water. Her hair was cutely pulled up in a messy bun, and a few stray locks dipped into the water.

"Thanks. I'm glad you guys enjoyed it- it was fun to go all out like that."

"How come you never did that before? You always just sat in the corner reading books or some shit."

"After disappearing the way I did, I owed my village a proper farewell. I don't plan to do that for every Fairy Tail party."

"What?! No way. You're not getting off that easy." Kana stated, a determined glint in her eye. "I don't care what it takes- next party, you're definitively doing those flying shots with me again."

Nari simply sighed, not bothering to argue as she dipped lower into the soothing water, only stopping when her nose was barely above the surface.

"I noticed that you and Gajeel were getting close last night." Kana spoke, redirecting her nosy gaze to the blue-haired wizard.

"I, uh, not really. He spent most of the time fighting with Natsu." She said quickly, her cheeks turning to a deeper shade of red.

"They did seem more rowdy than usual last night." The brunette said thoughtfully, thinking back to the previous night. "Natsu was pretty good about channeling it into fireworks, though. I remember seeing you and Gajeel holding hands."

The two brunettes chuckled at the embarrassed expression on the young girl's face.

"These communal baths are awesome." Nari spoke before Kana could continue interrogating the girl.

"Yeah they are. New pool, new baths, new sauna- our Guild Hall got a hell of a good upgrade." Kana agreed, sinking into her water with a content sigh. "I wonder where everyone is. I would have thought the communal baths would be popular after last night."

"Everyone's either out on jobs or resting after last night." Levy commented.

"Ugh, work." Both Kana and Nari grunted in unison, causing them to share an amused smile.

"After this, I'm headed to the train station for a job with Jet and Droy. Have you seen the job wall? There's so many job requests I don't know how we're going to keep up." Levy commented, and both of the women continued their inner sulking, not wanting to go back to work.

"Gotta pay rent somehow, I guess." Nari muttered, now letting her mouth sink back into the water.

"Gotta pay my bar tabs somehow… I wish I could just lounge in here 24/7. They should have a bar in here."

"There's a bar by the pool." Levy suggested, causing the brunette to perk up again, smiling at the memories of the swim park.

After another 20 minutes of soaking and chatting, Nari reluctantly removed herself from the water, feeling significantly better than she had beforehand. She covered herself with the towel before they could see much of her, since her concealing cream have come off in the water.

The soft pattering of her feet echoed in the expansive room as she made her way to the lockers, feeling refreshed and ready to go peruse the job board for an easy job to do the next day.

Clicking open, the locker she had placed her clothes in swung wide, only to cause a confused wrinkle to appear on the brunettes face. Wondering if she simply set her bag in another locker, she opened the one next to her, finding that it was filled with Kana's belongings.

She went to the locker on the other side of hers, finding it also empty, and continued searching the surrounding lockers. After checking ten of them, she went back to the bathroom.

"Hey Kana, you saw me put my bag in the locker next to yours, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's missing."

"Did you check the surrounding lockers? Maybe you just put it in a different one than you remember."

"I checked all the lockers around the one with your stuff, and the lockers on the other side. It's not there."

"Shit, seriously? Someone stole your stuff?" Kana asked, blinking up at her.

"I'm going to check my locker. I had my wallet and passport in my bag." Levy stated, quickly jumping out of the water and hurrying past the brunette. The other wizard also got out of the water, planning to help her friend locate her stuff. As the card and thunder mage went back to their lockers, they heard a relieved sigh from Levy. "My stuff is here. Doesn't look like anything was stolen."

Kana opened her locker first, checked her belongings, and then looked in the lockers next to hers. "I saw you put your stuff in this locker."

"Maybe someone mistook it for their own bag?" Levy suggested, beginning to search the surrounding lockers on her side for the missing bag.

"We're the only ones here, though. And even if that was the case, someone else's bag would be here." Kana reasoned, searching the same lockers that had just been searched. Nari, not knowing what else to do, started randomly opening and closing lockers, finding nothing but metal.

"Hopefully it's just a prank, and they'll return it in the next couple of days." She said after a while, sighing. "Thanks for helping me look. Do you guys happen to have extra clothes I could wear?"

"Some prank. Wasn't your wallet in there?"

"Yeah. And some expensive… make up. Hopefully they return it." Nari said, biting the inside of her cheek as she looked at the wall, trying to think of any other explanation.

"I have an extra outfit you can wear."

"You're a life saver, Kana." Nari said, silently hoping that she had a longer shirt for her to wear, and not her usual bikini tops she wore around the guild. "I can return them later tonight or tomorrow."

"No worries, shit happens. I just hope your bag turns up. I know what a pain it is to replace an ID card." She replied, going back to her locker and pulling out her signature top and capris pants.

"Thank you Kana… I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but do you by chance have a longer shirt on you?"

"What's wrong with this? You usually wear the same thing. Woah, have you always had that?" She asked, suddenly noticing a very long and very noticeable scar on her right arm.

"I'd offer you my dress, Nari, but I only brought one for myself." Levy spoke on the other side of the lockers, already half dressed.

"I have concealer cream to hide my scars, but it washes off sooner when I soak in water for a long time. I would put more on, but it was in my bag." Nari explained, and while keeping the towel press against her breasts, she opened part of it to reveal a plethora of other scars running along her side, causing the brunette to curse under her breath as she admired the skin damage.

"Man, that must be really good concealer. I always wondered what product you used for your smooth skin." She commented, and looked back at her face when the towel closed again. "I'll go to the gift shop downstairs and buy you a shirt."

"I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

"Don't sweat it. Just promise me that you'll do those flying shots in the future." Kana said with a wink.

"Deal."

It took about 15 minutes for the mage to get dressed and run downstairs, and another 10 minutes to get back to the locker room. In the mean time, Nari made herself comfortable on the bench, back pressed against her metal locker. Levy was rather quiet as she got dressed, and was leaving just as Kana was returning.

She tossed her the bag, and Nari quickly pulled out the pink fabric, giving the woman a look when she realized just what kind of shirt she'd gotten her.

"Really, Kana?" She asked, pinching the shoulders to cover her front, causing the standing woman to snicker.

"Hey, it's that or go out looking like Freddy Kruger in a bikini." Kana replied, unable to keep the amused smile off her face. In her defense, the selection of t-shirts was pretty minimal at the store. She'd been tempted to buy the woman a t-shirt with her own face plastered on it, but when she saw the pink one with Laxus's face and drawn hearts all over it, she couldn't resist. "You're boyfriend is waiting outside, too, so you should probably hurry up."

"… At least it's a flattering picture of him." Nari spoke after a moment of staring at it, and finally took a deep breath before changing into the clothes.

When she emerged from the locker room, she came face to face with Laxus, who had been leaning against the wall opposite of the door. Judging by his annoyed expression, she guessed that he'd been waiting for some time.

"Why'd you change clothes?" He asked, giving her a weird look.

"I figured it was a bit more fashionable and obvious than the bite mark." She said with a smirk. He was about to make another snarky comment, but as his eyes moved across her shirt, his gaze stopped on her arm.

"Have you always had that scar?" He asked, noticing a few white lines strewn across her forearm.

"How about we exchange scar stories at my place, hmm?"

5.

A few days later, Nari found herself soaking in the familiar waters with Kana and several other wizards. It was much more crowded than the last time she'd been there, since many of them were returning from their jobs and taking a brief break from them.

She flinched as the water touched the bite mark on her shoulder. The other one had healed, so Laxus had decided to make another one. In retaliation she also left marks on him, and actually got a little carried away, which he surprisingly had no complaints with. She didn't doubt that he'd be getting high fives or at least knowing smirks in the boys communal bath today.

Nari was surprised to see a matching bite mark on Levy's neck, and quietly wondered if Gajeel was also going through the dragonslayer 'mating season'. If marking your partner was a long term trait for dragonslayers, she might need to have a talk with Laxus about it.

"So I heard Natsu felt you up." Kana said rather loudly to the blond girl, causing Lucy to blush and try to back away. "I wanna know what I'm missing out on!" The brunette yelled as she tried to grope the blonde, who squealed and tried to squirm out of her reach.

"Getting a little bicurious, Kana?" Nari asked from nearby.

"Maybe a little." She said, pausing to wink at the woman before teasing Lucy some more.

"Hey Nari, has your bag shown up yet?" Levy asked as she swam over to her, taking a seat next to her and keeping the brunette between her and Kana.

"No, unfortunately. I saw that they were handing out locks today- did anyone else's stuff get taken?"

"No, but since the influx of new wizards, I made a complaint and asked for locks to be provided. Did you use one on your locker?"

"Yeah, but it sucks that we're using them now." She said, and sighed.

"I heard that the guys are using them too. Nothing's been stolen in their locker room, but it's just a good idea. Especially since we've had a lot of… weird, newcomers." Levy reasoned, and the brunette nodded, thinking back to the teenagers from the other night.

"Still, I hate locks. It makes me feel paranoid."

"You're really not annoyed that someone took your stuff?"

"Sure I'm a little peeved, and it's going to be a pain to replace some of the stuff, but it's just stuff. I figure that they need it more than I do."

"You're a lot more forgiving than I would be." Kana said as she returned to her spot next to Nari, settling down into giggles and smiles. "I'd be pissed."

"Honestly, I'm so tired I don't have the energy to be mad. Between that party from a few days ago, the games before that, and now working and having a boyfriend, I'm exhausted."

"Judging from the bite mark, I don't doubt it." Kana said with a smirk. "Speaking of which, where'd you get that concealer stuff you were talking about? I've got a couple of scars I'd like to hide, but I can't find anything that works."

"The stuff I use is pretty spendy, but it lasts for about 3 months. Totally worth it."

"How much is it?"

"$100 for a container."

"Shit, that better be a gallon for that kind of money." Kana spoke. The woman shrugged, using her hands to try and gestimate the size. About the size of a small coin purse, the card mage cursed again. "Seriously? You pay a hundred dollars for that much?"

"To have skin like this? Hell yeah."

"I can't imagine spending that much on one beauty product."

"How much do you spend on booze a week?" Nari countered, smirking at the glare she received. "I thought so."

"I spend at least $50 a month on beauty products. It's not that unrealistic." Evergreen spoke up nearby, joining the conversation. "What product are you talking about? 'Scar-away'?"

"Nah, I get it from this little shop downtown. The little old lady has the coolest shit for practically anything you can think of. Pricey, but awesome."

"But it's not water resistant?" Kana asked, referring to how it washed off last time.

"It's mostly waterproof, it just comes off quicker when it's been soaking for a long time. It lasts about 30 hours, and soaking cuts it down to 24. I usually apply it after a bath, so it works out. Whoever stole my stuff got one of my containers, so I hope their enjoying it."

"Someone stole your stuff?" Evergreen asked. "Is that why we're using locks now?"

"Not my idea." Nari stated quickly.

"Someone stole her bag when she was in here the other day. It was my idea to start using locks." Levy spoke.

The conversation quickly got side tracked to the red head in the room, with her long locks and creepy stare on 'blondie'.

Feeling that she'd soaked enough, Nari got out of the bath and wrapped the towel around her, glad that she'd used extra cream before the bath when she caught Kana's gaze on her side. Ignoring her bicurious friend, she made her way to the locker room, hoping that her clothes would be there.

She tried to ignore the paranoid feeling that someone had messed with her stuff again, and even though she mentally kicked herself for it, walked around the locker room to see if anyone else was in there.

It was empty except for her. Everyone was in the bath room, squealing and splashing each other.

Feeling a bit silly for searching the area, she went back to her locker, cursing as she had to fidget and pull at the stupid metal device when it didn't work the first time. After another couple of tries, the lock came off, and she pulled the metal door open, squeaking loudly as it did so.

"SHIT!" She screamed, jumping back as flames erupted from her locker and pelted her with heat. She put her arms up as more flames shot at her, and immediately she dove to the side, looking for the fire extinguisher across the room.

"Are you alright!?" Kana and several others yelled as they ran into the locker room, and by the time they got there, she was already putting out the fire. The hissing from the fire extinguisher died out after another minute of her blanketing the charcoaled clothing, white foam covering the area.

"Is anyone else hurt?" She asked, turning to the crowd of women that stared at her, most of them naked from running out of the water so fast.

"Those look like third degree burns." Lucy said as she walked forward, reaching to her.

"My healing magic is already working on it. Everyone be careful when you open your lockers. Kana, do you have the bag that I gave you earlier today?"

"The one with your stuff? Yeah, assuming it's not rigged to blow, too." She said, and peered over at the black and white locker. "Looks like they returned your bag." The brunette commented, carefully poking around in the locker.

Nari took a seat on one of the benches a few feet away from the locker, sighing as she leaned back against the cool metal. Someone handed her a towel, and someone else went to grab more fire extinguishers.

"Oi, are you guys okay in there?" A male voice asked from the doorway, pushing the door open only enough for his voice to carry.

"It's taken care of, don't come in." Nari replied over the excited voices of the female wizards, recognizing it as Laxus.

"What happened? I heard you got burned?"

"I'm fine, we'll tell you once we figure it out." She spoke, focusing on her healing magic.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Lucy asked at her side, her blue eyes looking at her with concern. "Maybe we should have Porleusica look at you?"

"When it comes to healing magic, she's got nothing on me." She said, and pulled her arm up to look at her skin, frowning when she saw the damage. "Damn. Hopefully no one else's locker is rigged."

When Kana managed to get her locker open, fire extinguisher at the ready, she happily handed Nari her small bag of stuff. Earlier that day she'd discretely given her a bag of extra supplies on the off chance that a repeat of last time took place, asking the brunette to not tell anyone, and she was glad she did it.

"Actually, could you get me some water?" The tribal woman asked as she turned back to Lucy, and she happily nodded and walked off.

The room was alive with talking and barking orders as they had to open each locker two at a time, one person with a fire extinguisher at the ready while the other opened it. It took a good half hour before they'd gotten through all of them and confirmed that Nari's was the only one targeted.

"How the hell did they even get past your lock? It wasn't open when you got back, was it?"

"No, it was locked. It didn't look like it'd been tampered with." Nari replied, still calmly sitting on the bench. She'd gotten dressed some time ago, but she didn't want to leave just yet. Her magic was dangerously low but she still had a ton of damage to heal.

"Whose locker was on the other side of yours?" Lucy asked, and walked around to the other row of lockers behind it. As she investigated, she found that the opposite locker didn't have a lock on it, and upon further inspection, found that with a little fidgeting with the metal, there was a hole in the concrete between the lockers, connecting them.

"Is everyone dressed?" Kana yelled over the noise, and after checking the rows of lockers still filled with women, finally gave the okay for the guys to come in.

Curious as to what happened, several male mages stormed into the locker room, making it extra crowded. Not surprisingly, Laxus was the first to enter, going straight for his girlfriend who was leaning tiredly against the lockers.

"I'll be fine, it looks worse than it is." She said before he could speak, and he crouched down so that he was at eye level with her, looking up and down at her injuries. Most of the damage was covered by the large t-shirt she wore, but the severe burns along her arms and face were still visible. Considering his recent possessiveness over her, she'd hoped to avoid getting him involved, but at this point it was inevitable.

"We're taking you to Porleusica."

"My magic is better than hers. I'll be fine with some rest."

"Maybe when you have magic to spare." He said pointedly, and she frowned, remembering that he could sense her magic levels.

"Do you know who did this?" Makarov asked as he approached her, standing on the bench next to her.

"No idea."

"What about those demons?" Laxus asked, and she couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Barbecue me before they eat me alive? Nah, it's not their style. Even if they did, they would have attacked me directly by now."

"It's probably the same person that stole your bag." Kana spoke from nearby, standing amid the group of wizards.

"Someone stole your bag?" The blond man asked, his eyes narrowing at her.

"I thought it was a prank, and hoped that they would return it if I didn't make a big deal about it." She said, and started to move and stand, only for the man to push her back down. "Can I go home?" She asked, looking over to the Guild Master.

"You're going to Porleuscia." Laxus stated, putting his hand on her wrist to keep it connected to the bench.

"No, I'm not." She said, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the eyes on her. In her village she was the resident healer, so for her entire life, no one worried when she got hurt. They knew her abilities were probably the best in the world. Hell, her healing magic was so good, demons had been hunting down her family for hundreds of years for it.

Not only was it incredibly insulting, but the burns hurt like hell, her magic was getting dangerously low, and she couldn't help but think of her dad. The only other person to ever heal her was her dad, and she'd be damned if another healer touch her without her permission. The Grand Magic Games was a special circumstance, and she'd only let the old bat apply bandages, nothing else.

Her chest was constricting painfully and she had the urge to run. The eyes were boring holes in her skull and the hand on her wrist felt oddly like the rope when she fought the demon, pulling her down with the intent of eating her alive.

"Yes, you are." Laxus said, tightening his grip on her wrist and glaring at her.

"I've had worse. I'll be fine." Nari seethed, panic rising in her chest.

"Why don't you go home and rest, and we'll have Porleusica check up on you later? No need to get upset over it." Makarov suggested, sensing that this would get out of control soon. He'd been aware of his grandson's circumstance for a while now, and knew that if she retaliated, he could hurt her further or even the other people in the vicinity. Judging by that look in her eye, she wasn't about to lie down on the issue. "We'll find whoever did this, and there will be severe repercussions for this."

"I'm already here." Her voice caused the room to still for a moment, and everyone turned to look at her, taking steps back to make space for her. The healer had the usual scowl on her face, and her stare hardened when she locked eyes with the thunder woman, remembering their last encounter. The Guild Master frowned, already knowing what was going to happen.

"Sorry about your wasted trip." Nari stated through gritted teeth, mentally debating how much extra magic she had to fight. There was a technique her mom had taught her that would give her enough magic….

"Have you seen yourself? Just let the woman do her thing." Laxus told her, pausing when he sensed a drastic shift in her magic.

Thunder bellowed in their ears and caused everyone in the room to fall, holding their ears in pain. Nari took the opportunity to run, pushing passed her fellow guild members in a frantic state.

When she reached the hallway lightning struck in front of her, and with it Laxus appeared, who had an annoyed expression on his face.

Without hesitating she used her thunder magic again, temporarily immobilizing him as she ran the other way down the hallway. Unfortunately, it didn't immobilize him long enough, because he appeared infront of her again and grabbed her by the arms, the grip causing some of her flesh to peel off. She screamed at him, intensifying her magic and channeling everything just short of lethal, only to have him tighten his grip and shoot his lightning magic into her.

The shock channeling through her caused her magic to intensify without her meaning to, and at the powerful attack currently attacking his face, he shot back with his dragon roar.

The entire hallway was instantly destroyed, along with a good chunk of the Guild Hall- their attacks had combined and amplified to a powerful explosive. Resulting smoke drifted into the sky and could be seen from the entire city.

Laxus had let go of her in the blast, but neither had been sent very far. After a moment, once the smoke and dust had cleared, they both tried to sit up. In the distance they heard people yelling and running about, trying to see if anyone was injured.

Nari managed to sit up, struggling against the pain coursing through her, and looked over to Laxus only a few feet away, doing the same.

"You okay?" She asked, breathing hard.

"I can't hear anything." He yelled at her, and she smiled, glad that she did _some_ damage. "Are you okay?" The blond asked, and crawled over to her, cringing at the pain that followed. She nodded, feeling the previous anger fade away.

Putting her hand up to his ear, she used the last of her magic to heal his ear drum. Before taking her hand back, she tried to wipe a smudge of dirt from his cheek, but wasn't successful. Tired, she let her hand fall, but he caught it. Instead of gripping it forcefully like before, he gently pulled it to his lips, giving the back of her hand a soft kiss.

"That was our first fight." He commented, looking at her with his big blue eyes, tilting his head at an angle that made him look particularly adorable. "Is it our last?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Who won." She said, looking at him with tired eyes and hoping he knew what she meant. It was taking everything she had to stay upright, and she knew it was just a matter of time before she passed out. Her entire body ached, and the foggy feeling in her head was worsening with each breath.

"If you're willing to get yourself blown up rather than see a doctor, I'll take you home like you asked. I really wish you'd reconsider, though."

"Laxus, you idiot, you're paying for this!" The sound of his grandfather yelling briefly caught the blonde's attention, but he simply scoffed; he had plenty of money saved up over the years to pay for it. When he turned back to his girlfriend, found that she'd fallen unconscious, hand still in his bloody palms.

Sighing, Laxus carefully picked her up in his arms bridal style, and despite wanting to take her to the pink-haired healer, took her home as per her wishes.

6.

Laxus was annoyed.

Angry.

Frustrated.

Pissed off.

 _Terrified_.

He'd been sitting next to her unconscious body, legs criss-crossed beneath him as he tried to meditate, trying to clear his mind and stay calm. Hormones were pumping through his veins, and he suspected the only reason he managed to stay still for so long was because of the excessive magic he'd used the day before. Using his magic on her had vented most of his anger and frustrations from the previous days that had been building since the start of the 'mating season'.

He'd tried to start a relationship so that he could mature. So that people wouldn't see him as a complete ass hole anymore- so that they could see past the Fantasia thing, so that they could see him as a friend rather than an enemy.

Using his lightning magic on her was the last thing he wanted to do. Like a child he had lashed out at her, and now instead of just a few burns, she had them all over her body. She was bloody and unconscious, possibly dying….

Because he lost control.

It didn't matter that she attacked him first.

He was still an ass hole, and simply dragging someone down with him wasn't going to change that part of his personality. It had been a stupid endeavor, and if he was smart, he'd leave her before he hurt her again.

But he wasn't smart. Every time he thought about leaving her, an instinctual pull would bring his eyes back to her neck, where the bite mark peeked through beneath the burns. The memory of their declarations to each other repeated in his head, and he couldn't help but reach up and touch his own neck, where her bite mark still tainted his skin.

And then a small voice in his head would remind him that someone had targeted her, a growl would escape his lips.

If he found out who did this, he would rip them to shreds.

Getting worked up again, he took a calming breath, trying to clear his mind.

It was almost 3 in the afternoon, and she'd been sleeping for close to 24 hours. The Thunder Legion, his friends, had come to visit earlier than morning, but he shut them out pretty quickly. At the time he asked them to keep people from visiting, and that he would let them know when she regained consciousness.

Her lack of magic worried him greatly. Some of her burns seemed to be better, but others seemed to worsen. Strange white markings had started appearing on her skin over the past hour or so, which worried him.

Her breathing changed.

Body shifted beneath the blankets.

Laxus opened his eyes and looked at her, the knot in his stomach tightening as she appeared to be regaining consciousness.

"How long have I been out?" She asked, her voice raspy, and she coughed at the end.

"About a day. Can I get you anything?"

"Water?" She asked.

The man jumped off of the bed hurriedly, glad to finally have something to do. When he returned with the glass of water, she was trying to prop her pillow up so that she could lean against the headboard. He quickly set down the glass on the nightstand and helped her, hating the pained expression her face.

"Thanks." She muttered breathlessly, and once she was situated, grabbed her glass of water to take a sip.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." She said, taking several small sips of her water.

"I'm sorry for hurting you."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later. We're both stubborn and hard-headed." She said with a soft smile, but frowned when he looked away, his eyes locking with her laundry bag on the other side of the room.

He wanted to argue that it wouldn't have happened if she'd just let the old woman look at her, but kept his mouth shut.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt too bad. My magic can be lethal when I lose control like I did."

"Same here." He muttered, still not looking at her.

"I'm sorry I lost control like that. I panicked. I-"

"You don't have anything to be sorry about. It was my fault." He said, still not making eye contact. "I understand if you don't want to see me anymore."

"Did you let any healer look at me?"

"No. I wanted to, though. You were in pretty bad shape when I brought you here."

"Do you want to know a secret?" She asked, and despite his peaked interest, his eyes remained elsewhere. "I'm pretty much immortal."

He scoffed, finally looking at her. "Right."

"With enough time, I can heal from any injury. I can even regrow limbs and organs- even irreplaceable ones, like my brain and heart." She told him, and despite the ridiculousness of it, she kept a straight face. He kept waiting for her to crack up laughing and declare it was a joke, but she simply sat there, watching him.

"There's no healing magic that's that good."

"About 400 years ago, a small village was plagued with a severe disease. People were dying left and right, and soon, it was so contagious and lethal that all of them would be dead by the end of the week. But then one of them stumbled across a man who had a book with him." As she told her story, he kept his eyes locked with hers, curious as to where the tale was leading. "The man said that his book would save the lives of the village. In fact, it would make them immortal, along with all of their grandchildren for countless generations."

She paused to get another drink of her water.

"So the villager accepted the book that was given to him, in exchange for everything he had on him. A ring, some cash- nothing substantial. The villager offered to let him stay the night in his home, but the man refused, continuing on his journey. Can you guess who that man was?"

Laxus stared at her, searching his brain for their previous conversations and whether she'd mentioned a specific name before. After a minute or so of thinking, he shook his head, at a loss.

"Zeref."

"Are you saying that one of your ancestors owned a Book of Zeref?" He asked, not expecting that twist. Now that he thought about it, he vaguely recalled her mentioning it at the games, but he'd figured that she was just delirious at the time.

"Zeref failed to mention that the book not only caused immortality, and that aspect was simply a side effect, but it also brought about a clan of demons to feed on them. When he cast the spell, everyone in the village was healed and had exceptional healing abilities. A month later, two demons came forth and started eating the villagers. The demons started reproducing and continued eating the villagers, but they didn't account for their food source running out. The survivors scattered through the lands, and the demons hunted them down, eating normal corpses to keep them alive but not sustain them."

"And you're a descendent from this village?"

"Yep. To my knowledge, there's not many of us left. I've never known someone to live over the age of 40 on my dad's side of the family. Over the years as our numbers have grown smaller, so have the demons, which has started raising the life expectancy."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" He asked after a moment, noticing that her injuries seemed to be healing faster now.

"So that you won't worry about me. And it's been weighing me down not being able to tell anyone, and I trust you."

"None of that explains why you don't like other healers helping you." He said after a moment, a teasing glint in his eye. She smiled, glad that he seemed to relax a little.

"My dad is the only other person I've ever let heal me. I don't like other healers touching me."

"That's stupid."

"Fuck you." She said, still smiling, and tossed the pillow next to her at his head.

"And what are those white lines on your skin? They look weird."

"They're scars, dork."

"How come I've never seen them before?"

"I use a special cream to make them invisible. It's wearing off because I haven't put any on recently."

He frowned suddenly, and she gave him a questioning look.

"What?"

"Why do you want to hide your scars from me?"

"They're ugly." She said with a laugh, surprised by the pout he suddenly sported. It was oddly similar to the face he'd made just after their fight, and she silently wondered if he practiced the look to make it so effective.

"But I want to see the real you. I let you see my scars."

"My emotional scars aren't enough for you, you want to see my physical ones, too?" She asked, watching curiously as he leaned in closer to her, nodding. His nose gently trailed along her cheek, briefly on her ear, and then down her neck. Finding a white scar along her shoulder, he leaned down and placed a small kiss on it. "What are you thinking right now? You haven't really talked much."

"If you weren't so injured, I'd fuck you so hard right now."

"What are you really thinking?" She asked, causing him to pause for a moment, still leaning over her and looking down at her damaged skin. Yesterday, when he'd brought her home, he had put clean clothes on her, which included a pair of black sweatpants and light blue tank top. Wanting to do something with his teeth, but not hurt her further, he busied himself with nipping at the two inch piece of light blue cloth. "Come on, tell me."

He breathed in her scent and then pulled away, letting go of her shirt. "I thought that I had changed, but hurting you proved that I'm still the ass hole I used to be. I shouldn't have lost control like that."

"Lighten up. If you weren't going through your dragonslayer PMSing, you wouldn't have lost control like that."

He glared at her for her choice of words, but she merely smiled.

"You know I'm right. And no one thinks you're an asshole for what happened. Hell, they're probably more mad at me for making them deaf."

"I still can't hear in my right ear." He added, and she giggled, the sound cheering him up.

"And whatever damage we did probably pales in comparison to the damage Natsu and Gray do on a daily basis. What else is worrying you?"

He grunted, feeling slightly annoyed that he was losing the anger that had been building up for the past day. She seemed to be going through his fears like a checklist, crossing them off and tossing them away. "Someone targeted you."

"Makarov and the others will figure out who did it, and probably kick them out of the guild for it. The old man has never been very forgiving when it comes to the safety of his guild."

"I still hurt you and destroyed half the Guild Hall."

" _We_ destroyed half the Guild Hall, and repairs will be done by the end of the week, just in time for Natsu to tear it down again. You hurt me because you were worried about my safety, and I didn't communicate my reasons for not wanting a healer."

"What if I hurt you again?"

"What if I hurt _you_ again?" She countered. "You're still deaf in one ear and that's a lot of bruises."

He grunted, looking away from her.

"Have you eaten today?" She asked, noticing that he seemed extra grumpy than usual.

"No. I was too worried about you."

"Why don't you run down the street and get us some Chinese food? I'm starving, and I bet you are, too."

Grunting yet again, he nodded, and crawled off of her bed. "What do you want?"

"I'll eat pretty much anything. Just get a lot of it."

7.

They decided to stay home for the next week, to avoid any more repeats of that destructive day. They ate food, healed up, had some heart-to-hearts, had lots of great healing sex; overall a great week off. By Tuesday they were ready to return to the guild, looking for jobs to do for the next few weeks.

For their first day back, Laxus found a job for him and the Thunder Legion, while Nari found her own solo one. He'd tried to convince to go with him and his team, but she was determined to work on her own. Both of their jobs would have them leaving the next day, so they spent their evening hanging out with their friends in the Guild Hall.

For the most part when they needed things, like drinks or food and Mirajane was too busy, Laxus was the first to volunteer to get it. Whoever got it, the blonde man was still overprotective of her, insisting that she wasn't as healed as she thought she was, or she was lying to him.

She didn't make much of a fuss about it, but actually thought it was kind of cute. He was right that she wasn't fully healed, despite her insisting she was, but she enjoyed to bicker with him about it.

Kana waved her over to her table at the end of the night, and Nari was glad to stretch her legs a bit. Laxus was reluctant to let go, but after giving him a look, he removed his arm from her.

She stood and waved back to Kana, making her way over to her as the Thunder Legion used the opportunity to speak privately with their leader. For once Laxus pried his gaze from her, already missing her presence.

She had to walk down the stairs in order to reach Kana, and at the base of the steps, a chorus of giggles met Nari's ears. She turned, surprised by the tone so close to her, and looked over at them. They instantly locked eyes with her, smiling at her like they knew something she didn't.

"Hey Nari. How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks."

"Do you recommend anything for scars?" One of them asked, causing the other two girls to giggle.

Raising an eyebrow at them, she watched them for a moment, confused by why they were laughing so much. "Did Kana say something about me? Cuz I'm just on my way over to-" She said, trying to walk out of whatever she had just stepped in.

"You're going to leave us, Timmy?" One of them jested, the blond one, and the name caused Nari to stop.

"Yeah, Widdle thunder goddess?" The brunette said, snickering and giggling afterwards. Nari stepped forward, turning briefly to Kana to indicate that she would be a minute, and gave a fake smile to the young girls.

"What do you want?" Nari asked the blond.

"Dump Laxus. Otherwise that letter won't be the only thing burned to ashes." She said with a smirk, and her wingwomen jutted their hips out with their arms folded over their chest, emphasizing the pose of their leader.

"You're saying you burned it?" Nari asked incredulously, looking back and forth between them.

"Play with fire, you're gonna get burned."

"This is a really, really good time for one of you to crack and tell me where that letter is."

"You're outnumbered."

"You little girls are so, so, so stupid."

"If you're thinking that Laxus can protect you, you-"

"Oh honey, you're going to wish he'd been the one to deal with you." She said, and reached forward, grabbing the back of the blonde's neck and yanking her forwards. The brunette gripped to the point of bruising, her lips next to her very vulnerable ear, so close that the blond could feel her breath along her skin. "Laxus may be an s-class wizard, but I'm the fucking thunder goddess. _You just pissed off the worst person imaginable_."

For the second sentence, the blond screamed in pain, but her voice was silenced by her magic. A dark chuckle escaped her lips as she oh so easily dodged and grabbed the wrist of the brunette's firey wrist, smacking the side of her head with her hand and amplifying her magic to the point of bursting her ear drum. The other girl met a similar fate, all of them ending up on the floor, on their knees, before her and holding their ear in pain.

"Now, which of you knows where that letter is? Because if you say something other than the location of that letter, I'm going to put you in so much pain you won't be able to walk for weeks."

"What the hell!?" The little red head yelled, and upon not hearing the answer she was looking for, Nari tapped the ground and caused her to fly into the air, all the way up to the rafters, and scream as she came falling down.

"Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum- which of you will give me the right answer?"

"You're like, crazy!"

"Tweedle dum, that was not the right answer." She said, and tapped the ground again, causing her to scream as she flew in the air and fall like the previous girl. Both of them had been on either side of the blonde, who was the only one not crying on the ground and nursing a broken arm. The girls were trying to yell and say something to the other wizards, but Nari distorted the sound around them so much that the others couldn't understand them. "Tweedle Dee,"

Fear was in her eyes.

Nari smirked.

"Where is that letter?"

"I-It… it… it…" She stammered. Getting bored of watching her squirm, and guessing that she already knew the answer, Nari launched her in the air like the other two.

After she landed on the ground, the thunder goddess used her magic to force them to the ground in a small huddle and amplify her voice into the one good ear they had. "I damaged your one ear so badly that the only person that can heal it is me; but I'm not going to heal it until you pay back all the damage you caused, apologize to Makarov, and after paying your debt, beg for my forgiveness. Understand?"

"Y-y-y-ees ma'am!" They all spoke, mostly at different times but the words still the same.

"And if I hear about any more unexplained fires in the Guild Hall, I'm going to make you deaf in your other ear."

"Yes ma'am! Anything you say ma'am!" The blond yelled, tears falling from her eyes.

"Now get up and go apologize to him before I decide to kick your ass some more." Nari said, nudging her head towards the Guild Master on the other side of the room. They hesitantly got up, staring at her, and took baby steps towards the old man. By this point they were getting quite a few strange stares, most of them figuring out correctly what was going on.

At their slow pace, Nari took a step and kicked the closest girl to her –the brunette- so hard that she flew through the air and landed on the wall behind Makarov. The old man simply chuckled, watching the scene before him as he sipped on his drink. Being a man that loved dishing out punishment, he couldn't help but appreciate her style.

"Walk faster." Nari said simply, and the blond ran forward, not wanting to incur her wrath further. The red head was about to say something snarky, or maybe whine or complain about her pain, but she didn't get the chance before Nari's foot met her side.

The blonde watched her fellow fan club member crash into the wall with wide eyes.

"Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" Makarov asked the young girl in front of him, smiling at her. The two girls behind him were unconscious, and judging by the strength of the kick, he guessed that they'd be out for quite some time.

"W-w-we're s-s-sorry about the damage. We'll p-pay for a-a-all of it-t." She stuttered quickly, bowing deeply and holding her arm in place. She was visibly shaking, and obviously terrified of the footsteps that followed her.

In the background, Nari high-fived Kana.

"Which damage are you referring to?"

"The fire last week."

"… which fire?"

"C-c-catching the Thunder Goddess's bag on f-fire." She said, still bowing as far as she could go.

Makarov looked up at the brunette that walked up behind her, guessing by her expression that she was holding back considerably, and this likely wouldn't be the last he'd be seeing these girls crying. He also couldn't help but smile at the name she referred to Nari- 'the Thunder Goddess'.

"I consider everyone in the guild to be my child. Harming one of my children is unforgivable- you could have hurt a lot of people with that explosive."

"Y-Y-yes sir."

"If I let you stay with the guild, do you promise never to do it again?"

"I promise! Please let me make up for what I did! I'm sorry!"

"Well, you're going to have to be punished, of course. On top of the punishment that you're going to be getting from Nari." Makarov added at the end, causing the brunette to grin maliciously.

"But- she already made me deaf in one ear, and broke my arm!"

"And you'll be deaf in the other one if you keep talking." Nari warned, causing the girl to look back at the ground, her tears falling onto the wooden floor.

"Report back here at 7 AM tomorrow; and bring the other two girls with you, for your first round of punishment."

"Y-yes s-sir. May I leave?"

"What do you think?" He asked, looking to the thunder woman.

"Blondie- have you changed your answer to my question about the letter? I'll go lenient on you if you do."

"S-sorry ma-a'am." She stuttered.

"She can go." Nari said, and watched the girl run off, tripping over her 4 inch heels.

"A letter?" Makarov asked.

"I kept a letter from my mom in the bag they torched. I was hoping that they'd taken it out before burning it."

"I'll make sure their punishment is extra terrible."

"Good. I'm counting on you." The thunder woman said with a wink, and made her way back over to Kana.

"I was half expecting you to let them off the hook." The card mage commented, and took another drink from the barrel between her legs.

"I was going to if they'd saved something from my bag, but since they didn't, I'm not holding punches."

"Mind if I have a swing at them?" She asked, her cheeks pink from the booze.

"Go ahead. I'm heading back to Laxus; enjoy your drink." She said, patting the woman's shoulder as she walked away tiredly. Nari made her way up the steps, and as she narrowly avoided Gray's body being thrown in her direction, she made eye contact with Laxus and his team. She tried to push back the voice in her head nagging her about what she had lost, mentally kicking herself for it.

When she finally made it back to her table, she took a seat next to the smirking blonde, immediately going back to her glass of water. "Did I miss anything?" Nari asked them.

"Remind me not to piss you off." Bickslow said with a grin.

"Were those the pyros?" Laxus asked.

"Yeah. Did you recognize them?" She asked, smirking at the man. He grunted, going back to his drink.

"They were newbies, right?" Bickslow asked, surprised at his leader's reaction.

"They were Laxus's fan club." She replied, much to the dragonslayer's dislike.

"Fan club?" Fried and Bickslow asked in unison.

"I'm going to kill them." Laxus muttered.

"Get in line." Nari said with a grin. "Those girls have no idea what they're in for."

8.

That night, Laxus and Nari sat on the couch together, taking in the silence. Upon returning to Nari's apartment, the blonde sat down on one end, and the brunette cuddled up to him. Free to be as mushy as they wanted, his arms wrapped around her and his face nuzzled into the crook of her neck. She sat between his legs, one of which was propped against the back of the couch, while the other fell off the edge.

They'd been sitting for some 10 minutes before Nari chuckled, breaking the silence.

"What?" He asked against her skin, and adding a small kiss to her flesh.

"I was just thinking about earlier, and what you've been saying about why you started dating me. About how you don't want people to think that you're a dick." She spoke, peaking his interest.

"What about it?"

"I can be a real bitch when I want to be. We make a good pair."

"The bitch and the asshole?" He asked, and she nodded. "I prefer to think of us by our magic. You're the thunder to my lightning."

She smiled, but didn't say anything. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't realized the irony in their magic compatibility, but she hadn't put much thought to it. He'd put it so elegantly she didn't need to.

"I wonder what would happen if we teamed up in a battle?"

"We would utterly destroy our opponent." She said with a dark chuckle. "My magic is alright on its own, but it's actually better used as back up magic. I can amplify your magic tenfold, if we did it right."

"Like what happened at the Guild Hall the other day?"

"Yeah." She said softly, closing her eyes and sighing against him. He was like a giant blanket. A giant, cuddly, muscley, hot, blanket. "When we were kids, my mom thought we'd be a cute couple."

"Your mom did?" He asked in surprise, not expecting the topic change.

"She thought your dad was a creep, but after you got the dragonslayer lacrima, she'd teased me about how cute we'd be together. She knew that you'd be a strong warrior, so you were at the top of the list for potential suitors."

"What did your dad think of me?"

"He didn't want his little girl dating anyone, so I don't think he had a strong opinion of you one way or another."

"So you really wouldn't have dated me if I was weak?" He asked curiously, and she sighed. He nibbled on the edge of her ear as he waited for her answer, honestly unsure how he felt about the statement. Growing up power was all he cared about, so it made sense that he'd date someone that cared about it, too.

"Before my mom died, I didn't care about strength, and dated whoever I liked…. I accepted our first coffee date because you were strong, but continued dating you because I genuinely liked you."

"What do you like about me?" He asked, still entertaining himself by playing with her ear with his tongue and teeth. It wasn't necessarily to arouse her, or him for that matter, but he oddly liked to do it.

"You're a cuddly teddy bear when we're alone, for one." She said with a smile, and he smirked against her ear. "I can tell that you care about people, and you don't abuse your power. You make mistakes, but instead of continuing to make them, you learn from them in order to be a better person. You have beautiful eyes that I could stare at all day… you're good in bed."

His deep voice chuckled dryly in her ear, the sultry sound causing a twitch in her nether region.

"I also like that you're honest when I ask you to be. I hate when people lie to me."

His tongue shot out, starting at the base of her ear lobe, and trailed along the edge. Her breath hitched, and Laxus couldn't help but smirk, feeling her press her body against him.

"What do you like about me?"

"You're sexy as hell, for one." He spoke, his voice low against her ear. "I like that you're strong and confident, and don't take shit from people." Obviously referring to her earlier outburst, she couldn't help but smirk at the memory. Not needing to see her face to know what she looked like, he continued. "I love the cocky smirk you make when you beat someone in a fight, as if you are the strongest woman alive, and no one can take you down. I love the way your face lights up when you talk to an old friend, and the way your face scrunches up when something happens that you don't like."

He continued playing with her ear, and his hands started moving along her body.

"I love you."

The statement caused the woman to momentarily stop, pausing to absorb the information. Not expecting her to reply immediately, Laxus continued making work on her ear, making it as red and wet as possible. Since her muscles had tensed, he stopped his hands on her waist and shoulder, still keeping her securely in his grasp.

After a few minutes of silence, he started to get nervous. She wasn't saying anything, and although it had felt right in the moment, he started questioning whether it actually was the right time to say it. Ever since the 'mating season' started, he'd fallen overwhelmingly hard for her, and had tried to reason that it was just the dragonslayer thing, but the feelings never went away. It's possible that it's a lingering side effect, but deep down, he knew it wasn't.

She smelled like vanilla and coconut, and he loved that combination on her.

"You don't have to say it back. I just wanted you to know."

More silence.

The pit in his stomach started tightening, and he removed his lips from her ear.

"Can you at least say something? Are you mad?"

"No." She said softly, and finally relaxed into him. Her hand reached for his and pulled it to her lips, placing a soft kiss on his palm.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, quietly hoping that he hadn't royally screw up. For having never tried a long term relationship before, he thought that they were doing pretty good, but maybe he'd rushed it. It didn't feel like he was rushing it, but he was also completely out of his realm, he had no idea what the timeline was for most people. Now that he thought about it, he'd never asked her she'd been in a long term relationship before. He knew she was pretty wild back in her day, but he never asked specifics.

"The life expectancy in my family isn't very high. When my dad died, my mom killed herself because she loved him so much."

He pondered her words for a moment, and realized that she'd been talking about her parents a lot that night. "Did your dad know thunder magic?"

"No."

"Aside from healing magic, did he know any other spells to protect him?"

"No."

"Was he half as strong as you are?"

"… no."

"How would you compare your strength to your mom?"

"… last time I fought her, we were in a stale mate. I've probably surpassed her abilities by now."

"Didn't you tell me once that she took down a lot of those demons in her day protecting you?"

"Yeah."

"Then I have no doubt that you can handle yourself in a fight. You're stronger than both of your parents combined, physically and emotionally." As he spoke, he couldn't help but feel like their roles had reversed from the week before.

"What would you do if I did die?"

"You're not going to." He said immediately, even though he knew that wasn't the answer she was looking for. "But hypothetically, if you did die, I would kill whatever killed you. I would be heartbroken, but if you're worried about me killing myself, don't. Fairy Tail is my family and they would keep me from doing anything drastic."

She placed a few more kisses along his hand.

"But none of that has anything to do with how you feel about me. Those are just excuses to push me away." He shifted her in his arms, moving his head to her other neck, and started nibbling on the non-slippery ear.

She was quiet again, continuing to place kisses along his hand. Along his thumb, knuckles, index finger, and covering every inch of the appendage with kisses.

"What are you thinking about now?"

She sighed, gently nipping the tip of his finger, but then pressing her lips to it.

"I told you that you don't need to say it back. I just need you to say something."

"I can't stop thinking about the letter that got burned. Sorry."

"What letter?"

She sighed. "My mom's suicide letter. I liked to keep it with me because it was the last thing she wrote, and it would cheer me up to read it sometimes. It was in the bag that got torched last week."

"Why didn't you mention it before?"

"I was hoping that whoever burned it was smart enough to try and blackmail me with it. When those idiots told me that they didn't save it, even read it and knew what it was… and then they tried to taunt me with it. I nearly killed them right then and there. The worst part is that I can't help but blame myself for not keeping it in a better place."

Laxus clenched his jaw, sighing against her neck. He still couldn't believe that a small group of fan girls could cause so much damage, and he hated that they had caused Nari so much pain, emotionally and physically. A small part of him couldn't help but feel a little cocky at having such dedicated fans, but the rest of him wanted to tear them apart and make an example of them.

"I've never loved someone as much as I do you, and it scares the hell out of me." She said after a moment, and at the tone in her voice, he looked up at her. Her voice had trembled in a way that pulled at his heart. Her gaze was across the room, but he could feel the heat radiating off her face.

"I love you, too." He whispered, and pulled her closer to him, loving the feel of her in his arms.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** This is the last chapter for this story- sorry about the misleading chapter titles. This was originally intended to just be a one shot, but then I had to write a second one, and then the second rolled into a third. There won't be an update after this one, buuuut I might end up incorporating Nari into my series Soul Circus, which is a series of my own creation. You can find more info on my bio page about that. :)

Nari is one of my favorite characters that I've written. She's strong, powerful, and her dynamic with Laxus is so much fun.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. If you like this story, let me know in a review or check out my other stories. Have a lovely day! :)

* * *

 **Laxus Three Shot**

 _Shit's Going Down_

Nari had been on odd missions before, but she thought this was probably the strangest. She'd had the occasional client be particularly OCD about how they went about the mission, so she wasn't suspicious of it, but it was odd.

The brunette found herself sitting in a train car surrounded by excited individuals, and while they were wearing extremely bright colors, she was dressed in black from head-to-toe. Throughout the train she'd noticed a few others dressed as she was. Nari was hired to deliver a package to a town in the north she'd never been to, but she was told by her guild members that they were extremely conservative, and never showed skin. No one in the guild had actually been there before, but they'd passed by it on occasion or heard rumors. The client was extremely specific about the type of clothing she got, and it required a bit of shopping, but the reward would cover well over the cost of it.

She was instructed to catch the last train of the evening, and the train was surprisingly full. Her stop was a town called "Gray Town", but most of the passengers were getting off at the stop after it for a convention. The train was packed, and to her dismay, she was unable to get a nap with all the excited chit-chat around her.

She sat still, dressed completely in black from head-to-toe with an extra cloak on top of it, and had her package on her lap. Luckily she had a window seat, but the man next to her would bump into her shoulder every few minutes, and she couldn't wait for the 3 hour trip to be over.

Since she had so much time, she let her thoughts drift to her boyfriend, and where their relationship was going. It was moving much faster than she had anticipated, and even though it scared her a bit, it didn't feel wrong.

She liked him, he liked her- it was simple.

Sure, she had a bundle of personal issues that probably got on his nerves, and he had a tendency to lie about what he was feeling, but they were working through it. They were also hard-headed and stubborn about some topics, but it usually ended in sex, so she didn't consider it a problem.

Mmmm, sex. He was a bit rough in bed but he mixed it up every time they were intimate, so she didn't mind. In fact, she'd encouraged him to not hold back and be as rough as he wanted, so long as it wasn't every time. Given that both of them were experienced in the area, it was pretty quick to figure out what the other liked and didn't like.

For such a big and strong guy, she couldn't help but smile at the fact that he was so cuddly when they were alone. When they were around other people he would play the stoic, strong, man's man that could hold an entire conversation with someone simply by staring at them. But as soon as they were back at her apartment, cuddles and kisses resulted, and after they got their cuddle fix, they'd move to the bedroom.

 _Have I ever been to his apartment?_ She suddenly wondered, realizing that they always went to her place, since it was closer to the Guild Hall. Pondering what his place looked like, she again smiled to herself, imagining a poster of himself posing on the wall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are nearing Gray Town, and will be arriving in approximately 15 minutes." A man spoke over the intercom, but something was wrong. He forgot to turn the speaker off as he continued speaking. "Hey you're supposed to be- what the-!?"

A scream followed, and the car of people silenced, their eyes widening.

"It's probably just a prank." Someone spoke up, and the others nodded uneasily.

Nari looked to the window, only now noticing that there was a device on the side of it, looking like a lock. As she looked around, she noticed that they were on every window.

As worried whispers replaced the previously happy chatter, Nari noticed a figure dressed in the same clothing she was, stand up on one side of the car. When she turned, she noticed another one on the other end, effectively blocking out the escape.

The hairs on her neck stood on end, her stomach sinking. _It's a trap._

Using her magic to heighten her sense of hearing, she could hear screams beginning to erupt from the entire train.

There was no way she could fight all of them.

"Oi, what's the meaning of this?" A woman said standing, moving the middle isle to face one of the cloaked wizards. "I'm a wizard. If it's a fight you want," She spoke, revealing her snow magic.

The one in front of her chuckled and removed its hood, then the fabric covering its face. It licked its lips, causing the woman's eyes to widen.

"I don't care what you are, you're going down!" She yelled, and hit it was a fairly strong attack. Comparing it to the demons she happened across as a child, Nari tried to gage just how strong the demons were compared to back then.

"Cute." It muttered, and Nari mentally cursed, knowing that it was significantly stronger than the ones she encountered as a child. It was closer in strength to the one she fought at the Grand Magic Games, and judging by the screams she was hearing, she guessed that most of them were close to this strength.

But they were dressed as she was.

' _Did whoever hire me know this would happen?'_

She tapped her foot on the ground, using her magic to make the train wobble.

She sure as hell wouldn't be able to fight all of them, but she might be able to give the people a running chance by crashing the train. As the demon lunged for the wizard again, she tapped the ground, causing the train to wobble again, causing the people standing to fall to the side.

Nari had never caused a train to crash before, so she hoped that it was possible.

She started repeatedly tapping the ground, causing the train car to wobble back and forth, gaining in intensity. Ignoring the screams and cries, she gripped her seat (and the package), gritting her teeth as it finally tumbled over. Her view out the window turned to the night sky, and she held on with all her strength.

They had been crossing a bridge when she tipped the train over, so the train didn't simply fall on its side, but it fell a good 100+ ft into a ravine, crashing upside down. The windows broke upon impact, and as her car had fallen, it had taken the others with it. One by one, they all crashed loudly to the ground.

Everyone, including the demons, were disoriented by the fall.

Nari, package in hand, swung out of the train car, indicating beforehand to anyone conscious to follow her out. Since she looked like the other creatures, they paused, but she didn't wait to try and convince them. If they were smart they would run.

Her mother's family, the Thunder Warriors, were all raised to fight in battle. They used thunder magic to protect their own, and from a young age, Nari had been exposed to the horrors of fighting. While her mother taught her to fight with her magic, her dad taught her how to heal, and both specialties dealt with blood and death. She'd had people die by her hand, along with having people die because her healing magic couldn't save them.

Death was ultimately inevitable.

Hopefully that thought would help her sleep in the following nights, as screams continued piercing the air. As she ran, her feet getting soaked in water as she had to walk out of the shallow stream, she continued along the tracks to Gray Town.

If her client had wanted her to die with the others, they wouldn't have told her to wear black clothing. She blended right in the demons.

If anything, this mission was a warning, and she wanted to get as much information as she could from her client. Staying completely silent, she managed to find a path that wouldn't snag her clothing as she ran, and continued running as fast as she could, her mind racing.

It was a lot closer than she thought it was, being only a mile from the crash. When she reached it, she pulled out the directions from her pocket, finding it rather easy to navigate to the house. It seemed like a normal enough town, and at the late hour, the number of people around was minimal.

Finding herself in front of a house, the lights on and looking like a normal suburban home, she knocked on the door three times, per instructed.

She waited a moment, preparing herself for an attack. Just because they had told her about the clothing wasn't a guarantee that they wanted her alive.

The door flew open abruptly, revealing a person draped in black cloth, over a foot taller than her. She held out the small, light package to him.

He looked down and slowly took it.

"What was the real reason for this job request?" She asked, trying to regulate her breathing.

"We all may be demons, but we're not all monsters. This was a warning for what is going to come."

Nari listened intently, trying to make sense of the situation. "What's coming?"

"Zeref's children are going to bring the end of humanity."

"How many of you are there?"

"This town is the most densely populated one, but we're in the hundreds, scattered across the continent. Your kind are simply cattle to be harvested, and unlike our ancestors, we don't simply kill you anymore."

A shiver ran down her spine at the implication of his words.

"I find our current method of harvesting quite barbaric. Effective, but… heartless, I suppose might be a good word."

"What exactly are you saying?"

"Given their healing abilities, we cut off as much as we can without killing them, and then after they've regrown those parts, we cut it off again. It's quite effective, and we've managed to grow in numbers this way for quite some time."

"How long have they been held prisoner like that?"

"Some of them are well over a 100 years old. Since we started breeding them, we've had no use in hunting down wild game. Although, bringing in new flavors makes my fellow brethren happy."

She felt sick.

"The reign of humanity is at an end. I suggest that you not stay the night in this town, given your… breed. Thank you for delivering my package. I suspect my information is enough of a payment?" The tone in his voice was so happy and carefree, all she could do was nod, unable to think of more questions to ask him.

He closed the door, and the porch light turned off.

Sighing, she turned and walked back to the street, trying to appear calm as she walked down the pavement. It was going to be a long walk home.

1.

She probably walked slower through the horror fest than she should have, but she wanted to be thorough. She used her magic to try and locate any survivors that weren't being chewed on already, hoping to find one and get them out of there in one piece. Unfortunately, the demons were fast and most of the people weren't wizards or trained for survival whatsoever.

The demons ignored her, thinking that she was one of them. Some of the demons kept their garb on, which helped her blend in. Others went rampant and shred all of their clothes, letting their horrific bodies further terrorize their victims.

She couldn't help but think back to when she was 8 years old.

Her village was at war with another one, and it was nearing its end. There was a particular battle that would decide its victor, and it was a blood bath. Her village was victorious, of course, with the Thunder Warriors slaughtering most of the opposing fighters. Once they had been declared victorious, Nari's dad and several others worked to heal the wounded for both sides. As she was healing them, she would sometimes have to heal someone she had fought and taken down in the battle, forcing her to face the damage she had caused.

"Out of magic, little girl?" The demonic voice met her ears, and Nari stopped, watching as a woman tripped and fell in the middle of the path she'd been walking on. A demon was stalking her, and upon further inspection, Nari realized that it was the snow wizard from earlier.

"Please, don't hurt me," She begged, scooting back away from the creature that stepped closer.

"Oi, mind if I take this one? I haven't been able to snag a live one yet." Nari asked, distorting her voice to sound closer to a demon.

"Seriously? They're such easy pickins right now." The other demon replied.

"I got trapped under some debris when the train crashed. By the time I got free, most of the live ones had been taken."

"Hmm, I guess I am pretty full from the other three I had. Sure dude, why not?" The demon said after a moment, and took a step back. The girl looked up at her with wide eyes, scratches and injuries across her body. "She's a feisty one, just so you know. Actually took one of us out earlier, but she's out of magic now."

"Excellent. I like to play with my food, and it's no fun if they don't participate."

"You're one of those weird ones, aren't you? I don't even want to know what you're gonna do with her." The demon said, putting his hands up. Nari walked forward and kicked the woman in the head, effectively knocking her out, and then hoisted her over her shoulder. "Have fun."

"I will." Nari replied, and started walking again, not looking back at the demon who shook his head with a smile.

She'd hoped that she would find someone hiding in the bushes or in a small cave, but had no luck. The woman slung over her shoulder was heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle. She just hoped that she wouldn't wake up before they got out of the hot zone.

Finally, just when she'd given up searching, she found a small child off the trail a ways. They were a considerable distance from the crash, and she couldn't hear any demons nearby, so she took the risk and headed for the kid.

"Psst, kid," She whispered, using her magic to make her voice only reach his ears. He was pretty well hidden in his spot, curled up at the base of a tree and hidden by shadows and bushes. "Come on, I can protect you."

"My parents told me to hide until they found me." His small voice met her ears, and she made sure to distort his voice to the outside world.

"Your parents sent me to get you." She lied. "They're safe, and sent me to get you."

"What's the password?"

Shit.

"… Password?" She asked, and was surprised (and relieved) when the kid slowly came out of his hiding spot. "Don't be afraid of me. I'm a Fairy Tail wizard." She said, removing the cloth from her face to show him, and he nodded. He looked to be around 5 years old, short brown hair with huge brown eyes that broke her heart.

He sniffled.

Mentally cursing as she tried to shift and crouch down to pick him up, the woman on her shoulder still incredibly heavy, she opened her cloak and reached out to him.

Straightening her legs again, one woman on her shoulder and the child on her hip, she pulled the cloak over his body, hoping it would fool any demon she might happen across. He was small enough and it was dark enough that if anyone briefly looked at her, they wouldn't notice anything odd. She might be able to get away with saying that she was wearing bags under her cloak.

 _I need to work out more_. She thought dimly as she stumbled back to the path, still keeping her ear out for demon and human alike.

It was well passed 2 AM before the woman started to wake up, and by that time, it had been almost an hour since Nari had heard another demon.

"I'm sorry for knocking you out earlier." Nari spoke, hoping that the woman wouldn't panic and move too much. Her back was killing her, and her magic was low from using it so much.

"You're a girl?" She asked, confused.

"I'm also human. I knocked out one of the demons and took their clothing to blend in." She explained, glad that the child clinging to her side was silent. It would be easy enough to silence his words, but she was so low on magic, she was trying to conserve it.

"… why does your voice sound different?"

"I'm a thunder mage. I can distort sound waves, including my voice. Do you have any rope, by chance?"

"I, uh… yeah, why?"

"Do you think you can walk? No offense, but you're kind of heavy."

After a few seconds, she said she could, moving her legs a bit to make sure they worked. "This isn't comfortable for me, either." She admitted, and the Fairy Tail wizard stopped, gently trying to put her back on the ground without hurting the boy.

Getting a better look at the snow wizard, she suddenly recognized her. She was from Blue Pegasus, the wizard guild she joined before Fairy Tail. She didn't know the wizard very well, and in fact she didn't remember ever having a conversation with her, but did remember that she liked to flirt with another snow wizard in the guild.

"You're from Blue Pegasus?" Nari asked as she regained her balance, having to hold the brunette's shoulder for support. She was a few years older than the thunder mage, blond, and was wearing a miniskirt and low cut shirt. She actually looked a lot like Lucy, and despite the circumstance, Nari couldn't help but wonder how so many people in her life since Fairy Tail were blonde.

"Yeah. Thanks for saving me back there." She said, and shivered. Now feeling more stable, she rubbed her exposed arms for warmth.

"Do you have any serious injuries?" Nari asked, looking her up and down.

"A few cuts and scrapes. Nothing too bad. Mostly I'm just low on magic. And cold."

"A snow wizard that gets cold?" Nari teased.

"Not exactly the time to make jokes."

"Well I'd offer my cloak, but I need it to keep up appearances. And to hide a little treasure I found." She said, lifting her cloak just enough to give her an idea of the sleeping boy beneath it, but not enough to wake him.

"I-I'll be fine. Once I get moving I'll warm up again."

"Where's that rope you mentioned?" Nari asked, and although confused, the blond unhooked a piece of rope from her belt loop. "On the chance that we pass by other demons, I want it to look like I'm going to kill you later. Make it into a leash."

"I'm not into that."

"I could knock you out and carry you again, if you prefer." Nari said, and with an annoyed grumble, the woman tied the rope around her neck. With a blush on her cheeks, she handed the other end to the woman, not making eye contact with her. "Let's get going. Hopefully this trail leads to a town."

"Our train crashed 15 miles from the nearest town." The woman said, to which Nari groaned, but nonetheless started walking next to the snow woman down the path.

"Well shit."

"Watch your language."

Nari glared, wishing that her face wasn't covered so that she could give her the evil eye.

"What were you doing on the train, anyway?"

"Delivering a package. You?"

"Escorting someone to the Rainbow Convention." She said, and frowned, probably thinking about the person she was supposed to be protecting. "Guess I'm not getting paid."

"At least you survived." Nari snorted.

"Do you know how many others survived?"

"No idea. I'm guessing not a lot. I used my magic to search for people in the area, but you two were the only people I found not already chow food."

"You sound so nonchalant about all of this." She commented.

"I'm used to death. I just hope that crashing the train gave enough people a chance to escape."

"You crashed the train!?" She asked, and Nari glared again, having to use her magic to silence her voice.

"Keep your voice down."

"Do you- why- what would make you crash the train? You are one of them, aren't you?"

"Would you shut up for a second? If I hadn't crashed the train, you wouldn't be alive right now. That train was a giant trap with no escape- everyone on that train was going to die, so I gave them a chance to escape."

"Do you have any idea how many people died because of that?"

"They would have died anyway, and you'd be one of them. So would this kid." She said, suddenly extremely glad for the rope, realizing she might have to use it to keep her from running. "Not only that, but when trains crash, they send out an emergency beacon. There should be people searching for survivors by morning, and if anyone else was hiding and escaped, they have a chance at being found."

The blonde still looked at her skeptically, but she seemed to be thinking it over in her head now.

"So if we had stayed by the train, help would be coming for us?"

"It's not going to do us any good if we get caught first. Which is why we need to get as far away as possible." Nari said pointedly, referring to the woman's slow pace. She scoffed, folding her arms over her chest and walking a little faster.

"Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm from Fairy Tail."

"My name is Selene. What's yours?" Her voice seemed a bit more calm now, probably at the mention of Fairy Tail. Since the Games her guild had been getting a lot more praise and good reviews, not to mention attention for their sheer power and strength.

"Kelsey." She lied, hoping that she wouldn't remember her comment about being a thunder mage earlier.

"What kind of magic do you use? I think you mentioned it earlier, but I forget."

Nari paused, wondering if she was testing her or if she genuinely didn't remember. "It doesn't matter." She said, and shifted the boy in her arms slightly.

"Not much for small talk, are you?"

"What's your favorite TV show?" Nari countered, honestly liking the conversation. She'd been walking around for hours at constant threat of being found out, so the distraction was comforting in its own way.

"… Walking Dead." She said after a moment, and Nari snickered at the irony.

"So you're a zombie fan?"

"A little. You?"

"It's alright. I've watched a few episodes of Walking Dead here and there. It's a good show."

"How far have you gotten?"

"I haven't watched enough to keep up with it. I keep getting annoyed when zombies start attacking, and someone decides that it's the best possible moment to start complaining about their personal life."

"Yeah, they tend to do that."

"Actually, do you know where we're going? I kind of just picked a path that kind of followed the railroad." She said, and at this knowledge, the blond stopped and looked at her disbelievingly. "Don't give me that look. I've never been in this area before and my concern has been getting as far away from the crash as possible."

"Then for all you know we could be making a loop back to the train?"

"No, I've been keeping an eye on the constellations, so we're going in one direction. I just don't know where the nearest town is, or… I hear someone coming. Act scared." She suddenly stated, and tightened her grip on the rope, much to the woman's annoyance.

The blond let out a startled cry, and then started crying, sobbing even.

Good. She can play ball.

"I love the taste of fresh tears almost as much as I love the taste of flesh." Nari said, distorting her voice to sound deeper and more demonic, the sound actually causing the blonde to jump and pull against the rope in alarm. The thunder woman kept a firm grip.

The creature neared them, and the trio seemed to be walking towards it.

"Who's there?" A low voice asked.

"None of your damn business." Nari growled back, yanking on the rope and walking in front of her in order to face the demon. "I didn't think there were many of us this far out."

"We're being thorough and catching runners. The train crashing really messed up our plans." He replied, still dressed mostly in his black garments, except for his face. "Look, I've already eaten a ton, but I've still got a bit left from my last kill. No sense in it going to waste. Want it?" The demon asked, holding out an arm to her.

Selene gasped and turned away, puking on the side of the path.

"How many have you killed so far?"

"I lost count, and I've got a small stomach. Guess it's just my lucky day. So you want it or not?" He asked, nudging the limb towards her.

"Sure, why not? I got trapped under some rubble earlier, so I haven't caught as many as the others." Nari spoke, and using the hand still holding the rope (she'd wrapped it around her wrist/hand a few times) she grabbed the elbow of the human arm.

As soon as she touched it, she recognized the healing magic in it. Taking a deep breath, she made the shoulder part go under the fabric covering her face. Having seen demons eat earlier that evening, she knew that the only way to be convincing would be to take an actual bite. She dug her teeth into the torn flesh and ripped it, causing the demon in front of her to chuckle, then swallowed the bite. "Is this what I think it is?" She asked, and the demon smirked.

"Hell ya it is. One of the passengers was a goldie. You'd be surprised at how many humans I've caught sneaking around in our clothes using this trick. Apparently our group has been running around naked and leaving their clothes lying around, so humans have been trying to blend in. Idiots, right?"

"Yeah."

"I thought for sure with you tagging this pet around, you'd be human. There's a few more of me walking around, so you might want to take a few chunks out of her before moving on. I'm guessing that you're trying to find a more… secluded, area?"

"I prefer a bit of privacy with my meals." She said, and he nodded in understanding, a knowing glint in his eyes. "I'm guessing you want this back?"

The demon shrugged, seeming to buy her act. "Nah, you keep it. I'm going to head back. Maybe you can find a few more stragglers with it, eh? Or just eat it. I don't really care. Have a good one."

"Thanks. Later." Nari said, stepping to the side to allow him to pass. She had just started walking again when she heard him stop.

"Oh, you mentioned that you haven't had much to eat, yeah?"

"What of it?"

"Some of us are smelling each others breaths to figure out who's human. A few chunks out of that arm and the girl should do the trick."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem. Later." He said, and turned to leave again. Once he was far enough away, Nari sighed in relief.

"Are you really going to do it?" Selene asked by her side, sitting on the ground shaking.

"Taking chunks out of you?"

She nodded.

"I'll just chew on this arm for a while. Pretend like it's chicken or something."

"Bite me." She said suddenly, and Nari looked down at her, surprised.

"What?"

"Bite me. I can handle it, and I'd rather a few chunks rather than my everything." She said, visibly shaking, but looking determined.

Nari could hear another demon further along the path. She grit her teeth, trying to think of an alternative.

This was not how she'd planned to spend her evening.

" _Oh, don't worry honey, it's an easy mission. All I have to do is sit on a train for a few hours, and then I'll be on my way home. Piece of cake. No fighting."_ Was what she'd said to Laxus last night, and she suddenly wished she'd taken him up on the offer to go with his team.

Unable to think of a better plan, and since the demon was getting closer, she cursed and turned back to the blonde. "Stand up. One of them is coming." She said, and as the blonde stood up, Nari grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her off the path a few yards away, and then shoved her against a tree. "This is going to hurt, but I can heal you after we get out of this."

"Just do it."

The kid was still sleeping.

Nari reached out and grabbed her throat, holding her down as she bit down, glad that the blond started crying out in pain so that the demon wouldn't try to investigate. She manipulated the sound waves so that it wouldn't reach the boy's ears.

3.

After the hellish two days of travel, she was glad to find herself at the Guild Hall, standing in front of Mira.

"Is Makarov here?"

"No, he's out of town. Who are you?"

"Nari."

"You don't sound so good. Are you okay?"

Nari had to lean against the counter, taking a deep breath to try and steady herself. "When will he be back?"

"Either tonight or tomorrow." She replied. "Why are you wearing that?"

"Long story. I'm going to go shower." She said, and not waiting for a response, started walking away.

Everything was kind of a blur.

She had to get the blood off of her before she could take her clothes off in public.

She had to get her clothes off before someone with a good sense of smell could smell death on her.

She had to try and stay conscious, or else they'd be shocked to find her covered in blood and smelling like death.

She giggled.

Somehow she made it to the locker room, having to lean against the lockers for support, and then made her way to the showers. Making sure no one else was in there, she stripped herself of the black clothing, glad to be rid of it, and hating the blood on her skin.

 _I have to get it off_.

She couldn't remember a time that she was so disgusted by blood. The compulsion was strong, though, and she found herself in the shower with the water boiling hot.

She didn't have bath supplies.

She used her nails, having nothing else, and a bar of soap someone had left in the stall.

No sleep.

The only thing in her stomach was raw meat, and it was hardly happy about it. First chance she got she had dropped the kid off at the police station, and she merely told them 'he's a survivor of a train crash', and then bolted. Afterwards she traveled with Selene to her Guild Hall, to make sure she was safe, and then went straight to the Fairy Tail guild.

Partially delirious, she realized with a giggle that the blood she was currently trying to wash away was her own.

As she looked down at herself, she realized that there were cuts and scrapes covering her body. She wasn't sure when or how she got them, but she had them.

"Maybe I'll have that old hag look at me." She mused to herself, and then slipped, falling against the shower wall and sliding to the floor. Her eyes closed.

She thought that she'd only closed her eyes for a minute, but judging by the pain in her neck and back, she guessed that it had been longer. The water was still on, and she realized that her hands were prunes.

However much sleep she got did the trick, because she felt more awake. She reached up and turned the water off, and slowly stood up, feeling sore all over.

When she stepped out of the shower, she made her way over to a mirror to see how bad she looked. There was still some conspicuous blood on her face and neck, and bruises and scratches covered the rest of her body.

Overall, she looked and felt like crap.

After scrubbing off the remaining blood from her face, she went back to the clothes that she had hurriedly thrown on the bench, frowning at them.

Having no other alternative, she pulled the clothes back on her, but only the pair minimum. The bra, underwear, pants, and black wife beater shirt. Her arms and neck were exposed, and normally she'd be self-conscious about the scars and injuries present, but she was too tired to care.

She threw the other garments into the trashcan.

On her way back to the bar, she stopped by a window and realized that it was dark now.

It was morning when she had arrived.

Mumbling some choice curses under her breath, she continued down the corridor that eventually opened up to the main hall.

She looked around and saw the old man sitting at a table, drinking his beer and looking contemplative about something. Before she could reach him, Mira appeared in front of her, looking concerned.

"Did you _just_ finish your shower?" She asked, and Nari grunted, looking away. "That was 7 hours ago. I thought you'd gone home. Were you-"

"Look, I fell asleep in the shower, no big deal. I need to talk to Makarov about things that are a big deal though, so if you'd kindly get out of my way?" She asked, genuinely trying to not sound rude, but ultimately failing. The white-haired mage nodded and stepped to the side, still looking concerned, and watched the brunette make her way to the Guild Master.

The old man looked up, his eyes widening at her presence. "What happened to you?"

"We need to have a conversation. In private."

"What's this about?"

"Hell demons, train crashing, end of humanity. Ya know, nothing too important." She said nonchalantly. He frowned, looking at her serious expression.

"I'm guessing you'd blow up half the Guild Hall again if I called Porleusica to check on you?"

"Yep. Make everyone deaf, too." She added.

4.

Bickslow sighed as he walked down the street, glad to be home in Magnolia. The job hadn't been particularly difficult, and it was just a simple monster slaying, but they had to travel quite a bit to reach it. Since Laxus got motion sick so easily, they mostly walked and camped, and the seith mage hated both of those.

It was well passed midnight and there was only a few people walking around this late. He was looking forward to going home, crawling into his bed, maybe have a quick snack with a glass of milk, depending on if he could go to sleep.

But then, as he was walking down the sidewalk and only half a block from his home, he encountered something odd.

A drunk girl was wandering down the street muttering to herself, and it took him a minute to recognize her. At first he thought it was Kana, which was actually pretty normal, since she would occasionally walk the streets of Magnolia drunk and pass out in an alleyway. As she got closer though, there was no mistaking the thunder woman that stumbled down the street with a near empty bottle in her hand, just wearing a different outfit than usual- black pants and wife beater shirt, which showed off her extensive muscles, scars, and cuts along her exposed arms.

"Nari?" He asked as he approached her, causing her to look up at him. After a moment of looking at him confused, she grinned, swaying slightly as she came to a stop.

"Bickslow!" She exclaimed, and then took another swig from her drink.

"What are you doing in this part of town? Laxus is looking for you." He asked, recalling that his leader mentioned trying finding her before departing. The dragonslayer had planned to go to the Guild Hall first to find her, and if she wasn't there, head over to her apartment.

"Where am I?" She asked, suddenly looking around and searching for a street sign.

"You're on the east side of town." He said, watching her eyebrows furrow in confusion as she thought hard about her current location. He chuckled and quietly wondered if she had the same problem with directions as Laxus, who gets lost on missions frequently when someone else didn't go with him. Or maybe she was just too drunk to know where she was. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Not enough. I still have the taste in my mouth." She said, making a face, and then taking another drink.

"Look, where do you live? Laxus would kill me if I just let you wander the streets like this."

"I can take care of myself." She said swaying, but then smiling and giggling. "I don't know where the fuck I am, but… man, I wish I had French fries."

"You live near the Guild Hall, right?" He asked, taking a few steps closer to her and ready to grab her if she fell. Which, judging by the fact she could barely stand, he realized there was a good chance he'd have to carry her home. "Oi, stay focused. Where do you live?"

She frowned at his harsh tone. "You're mean."

"I'm tired and I want to get home."

"Then go."

"I can't go home until I get you home."

"Where am I?" She suddenly asked, and he sighed. Usually he enjoyed seeing her drunk, but this was ridiculous; he couldn't be too mad at her since he was guilty of this on occasion, but tiredness ebbed at his eyes and he wanted to go home. He swiftly took the bottle from her hand, which it took her a few seconds to realize he'd done, and by that time he was already looking at the label.

"Who the hell drinks 151 proof rum from the bottle?"

"And it's still not strong enough. Two bottles and they haven't done shit. Dude, we should get French fries."

"This is your second bottle? How do you not have alcohol poisoning right now?" He asked in disbelief, watching her giggle and laugh, and then start swaying again. This time she would have hit the pavement if he hadn't intervene, reaching his arm around her waist and letting her use him as support. "Since you won't tell me where you live, I'll just take you to Laxus's place. It's all the way across town, but whatever." He muttered the last part as he started walking, pulling the woman along with him.

"Any fun hobbies?" She asked.

"Not really. Fighting, working, training, playing with my souls. Nothing really interesting." He replied, finding it difficult for him to ignore the stench of alcohol on her breath. He was tempted to take a sip from the bottle in his hand just to make it more tolerable, and after a second of mentally debating, did.

He made a face and stuck his tongue out afterwards, disliking the taste but appreciating the warm feeling that followed. "Shit that's strong."

"Tell me about your souls." She insisted, and he chuckled, now remembering her affinity for seith magic.

"What do you want to know about them?"

"Their names, for one."

He smiled. Most people didn't really care what their names were, and just treated them as objects that flew around on his command. Even his team never really understood it, and after years of trying to explain it to them, he'd given up. "Pappa, Peppe, Pippi, Poppo, and Puppu."

"Did you choose the names or did they?"

"We chose them together." He said, starting to feel a little better about having to walk her across town to his leader's house. Laxus would probably be annoyed by his scent on her, but hell, at least she wasn't passed out in an alley somewhere like Kana probably was. "Peppe was my first soul. He's the most fun and social out of the bunch, and it still surprises me that he hasn't been able to move on. He's a sweetheart."

She chuckled beneath him, and he had to shift his arm a bit to support her a bit more.

"Pippi is a little scoundrel. He likes pulling pranks and picking on the others. He's toned down over the past couple years, but he's still a handful. Poppo is a pompous little asshole, but he's also hilarious to watch and easily my strongest soul."

"Sounds like you really care about them." She commented after a while.

"Yeah, love the little guys. They're my babies." He said with a fond smile, thinking about them.

"Souls don't really have genders, right?"

"Technically, yeah. It's just easier to refer to them as guys. Every once in a while Puppu will get annoyed by it, but otherwise they're okay with it."

"I'm guessing Puppu used to be a girl?"

"Ya know, I honestly have no idea. He, or she, complains whenever I refer to him/her as either gender. I think she just likes to complain when she's crabby or tired."

Nari giggled, and as they continued their conversation, Bickslow was surprised at how open he could be with her. He took up most of the conversation by talking about his souls, but she seemed interested in what he had to say, and actually understood what he was talking about. Even other seith mages he'd encountered were biased one way or another, either obsessed with their souls to the point of being horrible in conversation or manipulative assholes that viewed them as weapons.

When they finally reached Laxus's house, he almost wished the conversation wouldn't end. But he nonetheless found his friend's house key, opened the door, and put the key back in its hiding spot. She almost fell as he maneuvered to get inside, tripping over the doorstep.

"Where are we?"

"This is Laxus's house."

"Really? I've never been here before."

"Seriously?" He asked, surprised. He suddenly wondered if there was a reason for that, and whether there was a reason that the blond didn't want her here.

Too late now. Bickslow shut the door behind them and guided her to Laxus's room, where he found the dragonslayer dead asleep. If he didn't know his leader so well he would have knocked on the front door, but he was such a heavy sleeper, he definitely would have slept through it.

He tossed the woman onto the bed, watching her giggle and bounce as she crawled over to Laxus, already forgetting about him. The blond reached out and pulled her close to him, still asleep, and soon enough both of them were snuggled together and sleeping.

"You two are adorable." Bickslow snickered, and without further adieu, left.

5.

Bickslow found himself hanging out with Fried the next morning, eating breakfast and recalling the night before. His babies floated around him, sometimes repeating his words or adding to the conversation, making the story seem much more epic than it was.

"I never pictured her as that sort of person." The green-haired mage spoke after he'd finished his story. "What did Laxus do when you brought her home?"

"Psh, he was asleep. You know how he is." He said with a shrug, and the word mage nodded in understanding. "They were so cute cuddling. I wish I had a camera last night." He added with his tongue sticking out.

"Is there anything else you two want?" The voice brought their attention to the young woman next to them, who was awkwardly looking down at her feet, obviously terrified of them. The young blond, the 16 year old that had attacked Nari, had been forced to help Mira at the bar until she paid off her debt. Considering her offense, the other Fairy Tail wizards hadn't been too kind to her, and she'd been especially scared of the Thunder Legion.

"Could you get me some more coffee?" Bickslow asked, and she nodded, walking away. He couldn't help but admire the view from her mini skirt, which was a little too short for her- it revealed parts of her purple panties when the wind blew just slightly or she swayed her hips at the right angle, and he suddenly wondered if that was part of the punishment or simply fashion fail on her part. "Weren't there a couple of other girls that were part of the attack? I've seen blondie working her very nice ass off, but I haven't seen the other two."

"I haven't seen them either, now that you mention it. Maybe they left?"

"Didn't Nari make them all deaf in one ear?" He asked. "She claimed that the damage was so severe that she's the only one able to heal them, and only after they paid their debt."

"Maybe she scared them off. Or maybe someone already paid their debts." Fried suggested with a shrug. "I'm surprised the girl hasn't quit, honestly. From what I heard, Kana nearly killed her the other day."

They quieted when the girl returned, bringing a coffee pot with her and refilling his mug.

"Thanks." Bickslow said with a smile. "Hey, where are the other two girls? There was three of you in your little fan group, right?"

She didn't make eye contact with him, keeping her eyes locked on the table.

"Their dads paid for the damage with the condition that they quit Fairy Tail."

"What about your parents? Are they helping out at all?" Bickslow asked curiously, but she didn't answer and just walked away. "Not much for conversation, I guess."

"She's terrified of you. What did you expect?" Fried asked with a smile, and took a sip of his tea.

"Hey guys, sup?" Both of the wizards looked up in surprise, not expecting to see the thunder woman there so early in the morning. She had a cup of coffee in her hand as she took a seat next to Fried, looking surprisingly well kept and together after last night. Unlike her usual short shirt and pants, she wore gray sweatpants and a neon pink wife beater shirt with the words "In the Zone" written across the side in bold letters.

"Where's Laxus?" Bickslow asked curiously, looking around for the lightning man.

"He's still sleeping." She said, and took another sip of her coffee, watching the visible half of his face drop.

"So he's going to smell the scent of both of us, but not know why?"

"I left him a note." She said, and he sighed in relief. "Why, you scared of him?"

"Yeah. He's been so high strung ever since you two hooked up, he almost beat me up for talking to you the other day." He explained, and she frowned.

"Seriously?"

"He's beginning to relax a little, but ever since the fire, he's been talking about you nonstop." Fried explained.

"Can I ask you something weird?" Bickslow spoke, and she turned to him, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Sure."

"Last night, your arms looked different. Now they look… smooth." He said, unable to find a better word for it. Not only did her scars and scratches disappear, but her bulging muscles were less obvious now, and looked practically nonexistent.

She smiled, keeping the coffee mug in front of her face as she talked, enjoying the smell of it. "I use a cream to make my scars disappear, and a side effect is that it makes my muscles less obvious. I healed the scratches once I had replenished enough of my magic."

"So you're actually super buff?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Usually I train on a daily basis, but since the games I haven't been able to work out as much."

"Interesting." Fried commented. "Is it to confuse your enemies, or purely aesthetic?"

"Both. Mostly for looks." She said with a shrug, and the looked over at the blond taking orders, her eyes narrowing. "Does she seem different to you guys?"

"Aside from her terror at half the wizards in this building?" Bickslow asked, snickering.

"Yeah, aside from that." She said, still looking at her. "Do you sense anything different about her magic?"

The two males shared a look, confused by the question. "No." They both answered.

"And where are the other two twerps?" She asked.

"Her accomplices?" Bickslow asked, and she nodded, still watching the woman across the room. "Apparently their daddies paid the bill and ditched."

"They left without getting healed?" She asked curiously, and the man shrugged.

"Didn't get the chance to ask."

"Well blondie's healed, so I guess they found a healer."

"I thought you said you were the only one that could heal them?" Fried asked.

"I am. Or at least, I thought I was." She muttered, and suddenly groaned, realizing something. "Noooo, no, no," She turned back to her coffee, glaring at the liquid and cursing the world under her breath.

"What? Did you remember something?"

"Thunder Goddess?" The timid and quiet voice spoke, and the trio looked up, finding the blonde standing at the end of the table, looking at the brunette.

Their brown eyes met, and the blond visibly stiffened, terrified by her.

"M-Mira sent me over here to ask what punishment you had for me today." She stuttered. Any other day and the brunette would have been absolutely giddy by the fear in her voice, loving sweet revenge just a little too much.

But now she felt sick just looking at her. "Who healed your ear?"

She looked down at her feet. "N-no one. It's still deaf."

"I don't like when people lie to me."

The woman started shaking.

"Did you heal it?"

No answer.

"What's your favorite day in the summer?" She asked, and although she didn't say anything, her obvious flinch was enough of an answer for her. "Tell Mira your punishment starts in 20 minutes. Afterwards you're taking the day off."

The blonde nodded and walked away hurriedly, confused by the information, but nonetheless ready to relay it back to the white-haired mage.

"What was that about?" Bickslow asked, watching the girl practically run and almost trip over someone's foot. "'Favorite day-'"

"Tell that to anyone and I'll kick your ass." She said, the harsh tone in her voice catching both men off guard. They exchanged another look with one another, but then shrugged, used to the bipolar behavior from both Laxus and Evergreen. "I feel sick."

"After two bottles of rum, I'm not surprised." The seith mage commented, and watched her stand up and walk away, headed towards the restroom.

"You're not usually so talkative with her." Fried commented after she left, and he shrugged.

"Laxus isn't around, and I like talking to her." He said, and reached over to the cream and sugar, adding them to his warm beverage.

6.

When Nari exited the bathroom, feeling a bit light headed but overall significantly better, she noticed the little blond teenager sitting alone in the corner of the Guild Hall, completely isolated from the rest of them.

Before making her way over to her, Nari stopped by the bar and asked Mira if she could bring her some breakfast, along with double checking that it would be okay for blondie to take the day off.

"It's fine. Mind if I ask why you're giving her the day off, though?"

"Turns out we have something in common, so I need to interrogate her about it." She said with a shrug. "She'll probably be in tears afterwards, so if all goes according to plan, she won't be able to work." She said, smirking at the mage who shook her head with a smile.

"You're worse than Erza and Makarov combined."

"She burned the last thing I had of my dead mother, hell ya I'm going queen bitch on her ass." She said with a smirk, and then made her way over to the teenager, grabbing her coffee from the Thunder Legion table along the way.

Their brown eyes met again, and Nari's stomach squirmed uncomfortably, but she ignored it as she took a seat across from her. The coffee in her hands had gone cold, but she drank it anyway.

"Do you live with your parents?" The thunder woman asked.

"They're dead."

Nari nodded thoughtfully, and for the first time, actually looked at her. Not only was she wearing a very short white skirt, but her white shirt was low cut too, complimenting her small bust considerably. She was wearing too much make up, blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail, and large tacky earrings hung from her ears. She looked lost, eyes tearing up and despite her attempts to try and appear more in control- puffing out her chest, locking her jaw, looking her in the eye- she wasn't fooling anyone.

"I live with my foster parents and 20 other kids."

"That sucks." The brunette commented, and took another sip from her drink.

"I don't need your pity."

"Fine. Then you don't have it." Nari replied, watching the surprised look on her face. "I'm using my magic to distort our conversation, so no one can hear what we're talking about. I told Mira that I'm interrogating you so that we won't look suspicious."

She looked at her questioningly, waiting for her to continue.

"You came to Fairy Tail because you thought they would protect you from the demons, right?" Nari asked, and those big brown eyes looked down, unable to hold her stare. "It's also why you tried to get Laxus. He protected me from the demon at the games, so you thought he'd do the same for you."

"It was stupid. I know."

"It was smart." She countered, and the blond briefly looked up, yet again surprised by the response. "Fairy Tail treats each other like family, and they will move heaven and earth to protect their own. Hell, they've started wars just because they injured a few of their wizards. Attacking me with that explosive was stupid, but joining Fairy Tail was smart."

"They hate me now."

"Doesn't matter. So long as you wear that symbol, everyone here will protect you with their life, and after a while, you'll feel the same about them. Hell, see that guy over there, Gajeel? He's the asshole that started one of the wars by hurting Levy, and yet anyone here would give their life to protect him." Nari explained, and looked up when Mirajane approached them, a plate of pancakes and bacon in her hand. "Thank you, Mira."

"Sure thing. Need anything else?"

"Refill?" She asked, holding up her near empty mug to the woman. Mira nodded with a smile and walked away with it, letting the pair go back to their conversation. "Hope you don't mind if I eat while we talk."

"You really think people here would protect me after what I did?" She asked, and as the shapeshifting wizard returned, Nari turned to her.

"Thanks. Hey Mira, can I ask you a quick question?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Hypothetically speaking, if a crazed lunatic came in here and tried to kill blondie, would you protect her?" She asked, and Mira giggled.

"Of course." She said, and turned to look at the girl, a softer expression than usual on her face. "Just because you did something wrong, doesn't mean you're a bad person. You're family." She winked at the embarrassed girl and then walked away, going back to the bar.

"See?" Nari asked between bites, finding herself rather hungry. She'd eaten a little bit of food the previous night, but ultimately she hadn't had a full meal in close to three days.

"Does anyone know that… you're…" She asked, not wanting to say the word outloud and looking around them suspiciously.

"My magic distorts sound waves, remember? Anyway, Laxus and Makarov know, but that's it. I have no intention of giving away your identity, and assume you won't give away mine, either." She said, and the blond nodded. "Good. So why'd the other two bimbos leave?"

"Their dad's paid their debt, and then they quit."

"And you healed their injuries, I'm guessing?"

She nodded.

"So they bailed and left you to deal with the consequences." Nari spoke between shoveling the food into her mouth. "That sucks."

"Yeah."

"Whose idea was it, anyway? To burn my stuff."

"Carol's."

"Who was she?"

"The brunette."

"Knew it. Something about her was off."

"Do you know how many demons are out there?"

"Hundreds. Maybe thousands." Nari spoke, and watched the girl's eyes widen and look up at her, fear in her eyes. After a moment of deliberating how much to tell the girl, she figured by the look in her eye that less was better. "Keep your identity under wraps and try to make friends with some of the more powerful wizards here. Natsu is a great one. He forgives easily and has probably forgotten what you did in the first place. He's probably more protective of his friends than anyone in the guild."

"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" She asked, looking at her skeptically. "I told you that I didn't want your pity."

"You're a member of Fairy Tail, which means you're family. Not to mention we're probably blood related." She added, still sensing the woman's magic all too well. "Every one of us that's caught makes the demons stronger. I want to keep you safe for selfish reasons, and still haven't forgiven you for burning my shit. Not to mention the fight I had with Laxus afterwards." She said, glaring at the blond.

"So you're telling me all of this to save your own ass?"

Nari shrugged, mouth full of pancake.

"How did their numbers get so large anyway? We're practically extinct, and we're their food source."

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

Nari watched her for a moment, chewing and swallowing her food while trying to decide whether she'd be able to handle the information.

"I can handle it. I'm a big girl. Tell me how their numbers are growing."

She seemed determined and together enough. The brunette grunted, finally deciding to share the information. "They don't kill us anymore. They capture us, cut off what they can, and then wait until we've healed before repeating the process. It allows them to feed without depleting their food source."

"How many of us are they? Where are they? How long?"

"I don't know the details, but some of them have been there for a hundred years."

"We need to get them out."

"The Magic Counsel has been made aware of the situation. The demons recently killed over 300 passengers on a train, so they're not taking the situation lightly. Soon they'll-"

"I don't care about the Magic Counsel. We need to get them out now!" She said, her voice rising.

"Too dangerous." Nari dismissed.

"You're a coward! I'll go there myself if I have to! They're our family! Our _real_ family, and you're just willing to let them rot there?!"

"And what do you plan to do against hundreds of demons, when I doubt you could take out one?"

"I don't care. If you don't tell me, I'm sure I can find someone who will." She said, and at the tone in the voice, Nari realized that she'd made a huge mistake in telling her. As the blond stood to leave, trying to run off, Nari easily stuck her foot out to trip her.

She fell to the ground, and before she could get up, Nari put her foot square in the middle of her back, pushing her back down. The thunder woman put both of her feet on the woman's back, effectively pinning her and making it difficult for her to breath.

"How are you so calm about this? Our people are dying!"

"A lot of people are dying. I don't intend for either of us to be one of them."

"Coward!"

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered, still feeling sick at the feeling of her magic. Her gaze wandered up to the eyes on them, and usually she would put on a show to keep up the appearance of being mad at the blond, she felt too tired for it. She suspected that eating that arm the other day made her extra sensitive to the magic of her people, and just the thought of it made her stomach shift uncomfortably.

"My parents…" The blond suddenly muttered, tears falling from her eyes. Nari looked back down at her and sighed. "My parents could be alive."

"And they could be dead." Nari said, and rubbed her temples with her thumb and middle finger.

"Get off of me!"

"Only if you promise to not do something stupid."

"I have to save them!"

"Remember how I said that Fairy Tail will protect you? Well, that includes protecting you from yourself. I'm not letting you commit suicide."

"My parents are being eaten by demons, I have to save them! Get off of me!"

Fed up with trying to reason with her, Nari kicked her in the back of the head, the sight causing the onlookers to cringe. The blond was effectively knocked out.

"What the hell was that about?" Kana asked from a few tables away.

"I'm hungover and she's being stupid." She said with a shrug, and the brunette nodded in understanding, going back to her drink. Nari stepped off of the woman beneath her and dragged her over to the bench they'd been sitting at, laying her down and then going back to her breakfast.

Makarov walked over to her, jumping onto the table top and peering over at the unconscious woman. "Don't you think that was a bit overkill?"

"I really shouldn't be around people for a few days." She admitted, not looking at him. "I told her something I shouldn't have."

"Oh? Is that why she was so upset? Mira mentioned that you were interrogating her."

"I can't tell you the details, but I'm afraid she's going to get herself killed when she wakes up."

"We can take her to Porleusica. She probably has something to calm her down, and she can be discrete. In the mean time, maybe you should get home and rest."

"I might go back to Laxus's place… I shouldn't be around people, but I also shouldn't be alone."

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I just need a few days to recoup." She said, now looking up at the old man. He looked concerned for her, and she realized that she'd been seeing that expression a lot lately. "Any update on what the counsel plans to do?"

"Nothing yet, but I suspect they're gathering as much intelligence as possible. I made sure to keep your name out when I told them about the incident." He spoke, and she nodded. "The woman, Selene. She mentioned that a woman named Kelsey saved her."

"Good thing I gave her a fake name." She commented.

"Have you talked to her since then?"

"No, and I don't really want to. I just hope she's coping with it alright." She replied, and smiled when she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist. She leaned back into his chest and looked up, finding a tired blond looking down at her. "Morning, sleepy head."

"Were you at my house this morning?"

"Yeah. Bickslow found me wandering the streets drunk, so he took me to your place."

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"Of course not. He was a perfect gentleman." She said, and gave him a quick upside down kiss.

"You two are adorable." Makarov spoke, and the dragonslayer glared, but was too tired to stick with it. He took a seat next to his girlfriend, oblivious to the unconscious woman, and waved Mira down to get breakfast. "Have you told him what happened?"

"Not yet. I haven't gotten the chance."

"Tell me what?" Laxus asked, looking between the two wizards.

"I'll tell you later."

"Did something happen on your mission?"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"Let's talk about it later when we're alone, alright?" Nari said, and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before finishing off her plate. Still hungry, she asked Mira for more food when she arrived.

The unconscious woman started to stir, but Nari kicked her head from across the table, effectively knocking her out again. Mira gave her a strange look before leaving with their orders, deciding not to ask her about it.

Laxus looked over, now noticing the unconscious girl, blood on her forehead. He raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend, but she ignored the questioning stare and sipped at her coffee. He looked over to his grandfather for an explanation, but he merely shrugged.

Deciding to question her about it later, he let it go, striking up conversation with his grandfather instead.

7.


End file.
